Will You Be My Everything?
by LazyPuppy
Summary: Brooke Dystra: Ace's girlfriend, Charlie's best friend. Being Ace's girl was difficult, but when her older sister returns, things get harder. When she walks in on Ace cheating, she finds comfort in the arms of her best friend Charlie Hogan. But can they withstand the drama that Ace will cause? And get through the trouble that Brooke's older sister brought back home with her?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my own characters and the plot.  
**

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**Chapter One: **

Brooke Dystra sat on the hood of Ace's car looking immensely bored; she didn't look anywhere else besides her toes. Ace had been chatting away with Eyeball, and had not been paying her much attention. It wasn't unusual, but it was a bit disheartening.

Brooke sighed quietly and absentmindedly rubbed the bruise on her left forearm. The nasty looking purpleish spot stood out graciously against her skin, but thankfully most people that could've seen it never questioned her about it. There was only one person that interrogated her about it. Brooke knew he would though. He was just that attentive. He knew her so well.

Heaving out another breath, Brooke wrapped her arms tightly around her knees and laid her chin down on her knee caps. Her eyes scanned the junkyard, and she made a slight look of disgust. She would never see the appeal in the place. It was a useless place to hang out at on such a sunny June day such as this. The temperature was just perfect, and Brooke would much rather spend the afternoon having a good swim than sit on the hood of a car and have her own boyfriend forget her existence.

The young girl's eyes flickered over to Charlie, and a smile formed on her face. She would never, for the life of her, figure out why a nice guy like him could be part of something like the Cobras. He could act as tough as he wanted, but she knew by heart that he was a softie; a softie that she adored.

"What are you staring at Brooke?" Ace's voiced whispered seductively against her ear.

Brooke broke away from her thoughts, and jumped slightly. She hadn't anticipated him being close _this _close to her. When did he even get this close? She didn't even notice him leave the spot he had sat on next to Eyeball.

"Oh, nothing." She feigned the naïve tone while looking him dead in the eyes.

"Right." He drawled out. "As if I believe that."

Brooke didn't know if the last part was for her to hear or not, but either way, she wasn't going to say anything to him.

"But anyways, wanna go back to my place?"

Brooke straightened out her posture, and chewed on her bottom lip. She wasn't surprised that he would be asking sex, but the way he was nuzzling her neck and grasping her hand was a bit shocking. However, even through the 'loving' gestures, she could _feel _his demand.

She sighed, but nodded anyways, she didn't want another lesson in 'respect' from him. She shuddered at the memory of when he first did it; she had a black eye that lasted for two weeks.

Brooke slid off the hood of the car and got into the passenger seat while he slid into the driver's seat. Her eyes drifted to Charlie, and she could see the disapproving look on his face, in those eyes that could see through her lies. Brooke smiled apologetically at him, and watched as he slightly shook his head meaning that they'd talk later. Soon Charlie's figure disappeared as Ace drove farther and farther away from the junkyard.

"Ace, we just fucked this morning." The brunette stated softly, not wanting him to touch her anymore than he already had.

"And?" He replied, not having a care in the world.

Brooke kept silent, and ran a hand through her dark brown hair.

"Forget it."

Brooke looked at the scenery that was whizzing by as her boyfriend drove. Soon enough, they pulled into the driveway of Ace's house. The brunette looked in disgust at the structure that looked like it would crash down at any moment. The lawn was unruly, windows smashed and broken, the paint was chipping off, and the cement of the driveway and walkway were cracked and unbalanced. It reminded her of a house that would be seen in a horror movie.

The young girl shook her head. It was the perfect house to go to during Halloween for a scare. She and Ace got out of the car, and he led her to the bedroom that she always seemed to dread. Once the door closed and locked, Ace had his way with her. The entire time, Brooke tuned him out and kept her mind on other things. Ace never noticed cause he was too caught up in his own pleasure to notice that his girlfriend had her head turned away, and a lone tear had escaped her eye.

After he was done, he got off of her, got dressed, and told her to go home. Brooke hurriedly dressed, and quickly got out of the nightmare house. Of course she had to walk home because Ace would never drive her home.

"This sucks." Brooke muttered to herself while kicking a small stone.

"Brooke!" A voice called out.

Brooke turned around, and instantly smiled when she saw Charlie jogging up to catch up to her.

"Hey Charlie." Her smile reached her eyes.

"Hey." He smiled back. "Gotta walk home?"

"Obviously." She laughed contently.

"Right, I'll walk you home if you want?" He questioned slightly with a warm grin, though, he knew she would say yes.

Brooke grinned back and nodded.

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Leave your lovely thoughts and opinions in a review ;D


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: **

Brooke and Charlie had been walking and chatting for a couple minutes when the subject of debate came up.

"Why do you put up with him?" Charlie questioned.

"You know why." Brooke mumbled. If she left, Ace would hunt her down because he wouldn't let her slip through his fingers.

"You really think he's gonna try and hunt you down if you were to move out of town?"

"I doubt I could get out of this hellhole Charlie." Brooke bumped shoulders with him. "He's possessive, you know that."

"You could at least try and defend yourself a little more." He grumbled.

"I could." she said thoughtfully. "But I think he'd hurt me even more if I tried."

Charlie stopped, making her stop and look at him with a quizzical gaze. He took both of her wrists in his hands and lifted them up for her to see. The bruises that marred her skin were splotchy and out of place on her.

"This is already going far enough. I don't wanna think about what 'even more' could look like."

Brooke averted her gaze, and fell into step with Charlie. Her heart was racing, but she paid no attention to it.

"Bee, I don't wanna see you dead anytime soon." He stated bluntly.

"I know." Brooke replied, though, a small smile appeared on her lips because of the nickname he had given her when he found out that she was afraid of bees.

"I hate seeing you get hurt, ya know?" Charlie stopped once more to gaze into her vivid forest green eyes.

"I know you do Charlie, but don't worry. He never notices me unless another guy's staring or he wants sex. Either way, he leaves me alone for most of the time. It's not like he cares."

"Whatever you say." Charlie muttered bitterly.

"Look, I can handle him alright? I'm tough, I can get through it!" Brooke held her head up high with a cheesy grin plastered on her face.

"Tough? You're afraid of bees!" Charlie teased.

"Shut up!" Brooke laughed.

Brooke watched as Charlie grinned, and squealed slightly when he suddenly tickled her. She tried to run away, but his grip was too strong for her.

"Fuck you!" She giggled madly.

'_It would be nice.' _Charlie thought.

A moment of silence drifted upon them, but it was by no means an awkward one. Rather, it was a comfortable one.

"You're beautiful you know that?" Charlie stated quietly.

Brooke blinked in surprise as they reached her front porch, but didn't really know what to say to that sudden statement. Instead, however, she settled for pulling him into a hug. Her hugs with Charlie were far better than the 'hugs' she had with Ace. This was her comfort, and she would cherish Charlie for as long as she knew him.

"Thank you." She whispered in his ear. It had been a long, _long _time since anyone said that to her.

"You're welcome." He whispered back as he hugged her just as tight.

"Would you like to come in?" She offered.

"Sure."

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Review. Please.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: **

The duo went inside of Brooke's home, and went straight for the kitchen.

"Hey Brooke!" Lindsey, Brooke's little sister, shouted.

"Hey Linds."

The two sisters hugged, and Charlie had a ghost of a smile on his face. He liked the hyper active seven year old.

"Where's mom?" Brooke questioned.

"In her room." Lindsey answered with a frown.

Brooke nodded; she wasn't the least bit surprised. It was common enough for her to expect it. She would've been more shocked if Lindsey had told her that their mother was actually out of the house. Their mother wasn't always like this though. It was when their father had died in a carnival accident that she began to withdraw from people, even her own family. Everyone else moved on except for her, leaving Brooke to take care of poor Lindsey.

"Hi Charlie!" Lindsey shouted, running over to hug her friend.

"Miss me Lindsey-bear?" Charlie asked, using the nickname that seemed to suit her.

"Uh huh, I missed you a lot CharChar!"

Brooke snorted as she tried to mask her laughter. She saw the dirty look Charlie threw her way, and wanted to burst out laughing even more.

"You promised to take me swimming today!" She pouted.

"I know I promised princess."

Brooke raised an eyebrow. When had he promised such a thing? And would he take her too?

"_CharChar_, you made a promise. Go take her swimming." Brooke snickered.

"If we go, you need to go with us Bee." Charlie chuckled.

Brooke was about to reply, but a knock at the door stopped her reply short. She pointed a finger at the two,

"Don't make a mess." She eyed the two and then went to get the door.

Charlie and Lindsey looked at each other; they both went to the cookie jar and took the last two cookies. They high fived each other.

Brooke opened the door, and frowned when she saw Eyeball standing there, a cigarette hanging loosely between his lips.

"What do you want Eyeball?" Brooke asked annoyed.

"Ace wants ya to come with him."

"To where?" Brooke narrowed her eyes at him.

"Irby's," Eyeball replied.

"Tell him I don't wanna go" Brooke said attempting to close the door, but Eyeball didn't let that happen.

"He's not gonna take no for an answer, he said that have to go there or he'll drag you down there himself," Eyeball informed.

"Why the hell does he want me there?" Brooke hissed; she and Eyeball had never seen eye to eye on most things.

"You'll see when you get there, now go!" Eyeball ushered, Brooke glared at him, and then went back into the kitchen while he stood outside on her porch.

"Stupid lap dog" Brooke muttered, referring to Eyeball as Ace's lap dog.

Charlie looked up, but the smile on his face disappeared at her mad expression.

"Something wrong Bee?" he asked.

"Yes." Brooke said, sitting down in the chair across from the blonde. "Ace wants me to join him at Irby's."

Charlie sent a pitying look at her, "What about Linds?"

"Take her swimming Charlie, I'll go see what that oaf of a boyfriend wants."

"You sure?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah." Brooke nodded, and then went to the cookie jar.

Charlie shifted in his chair.

"Charlie, who took the cookies from the cookie jar?" Brooke asked, looking at him with a 'Don't lie to me' look.

"Lindsey did."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: **

Once the lecture about stealing her snack was over, Brooke went and changed clothes. She went back downstairs and went out the front door. Eyeball had fallen asleep while sitting on one of the porch chairs, making Brooke roll her eyes. She slammed her hands on the table next to the chair, and Eyeball awoke with a startled expression on his face. Once he saw that Brooke had made the noise, he glared and motioned for her to get into the car.

The silence was tense and a bit awkward between the two. When they were younger, he had always teased Brooke about a lot of things; he still did, but not as often. The only thing that they had in common was that they knew Ace.

"So what was Charlie doing at your house?" Eyeball asked, after moments of tense silence.

"Hanging out." Brooke answered.

"Is that all you guys were doing?" Eyeball asked rather suggestively.

"Yea, we didn't do…that." Brooke replied, though, the thought brought butterflies in her stomach. She mentally slapped herself.

"Sure," Eyeball replied doubtfully, to him Brooke was a slut like any other girl…only feistier.

Brooke scowled, "Unlike you I don't sleep with just anyone with two legs."

"Oh what exactly are you saying?" Eyeball asked, glaring at her from the corner of his eye.

"You're a man whore." Brooke muttered.

"What?" He hadn't heard what she had said.

"Forget it."

For the rest of the ride to Irby's Billiards, the two remained silent. The air was tense, and filled with brewing hatred. Once they got to the place, they got out and walked in. The two immediately spotted Ace at one of the pool tables playing someone else. Eyeball and Brooke walked over to Ace, Eyeball slapped Ace's shoulder.

"What's up?"

"Playing" he replied, then brought Brooke closer to him and smashed his lips onto hers.

Brooke desperately tried to not to push him away from her, his kiss disgusted her.

"Hey dude, we playin or you just gonna make out with her?" the guy asked annoyed.

Ace only glared at him, but continued playing. Of course in the end he won. The guy handed over some money, and then walked away. Brooke opened her mouth to say something, but Eyeball and Ace walked away before she could even get one word out. She growled lowly, and watched as they got a couple of beers.

Ace came back over to her, and she looked at him questioningly.

"Why the hell did you ask Eyeball to come get me?" She asked, rolling her eyes.

"I think you know why," Ace replied, a tiny glint in his eyes.

Brooke scoffed in disgust, "No, not again Ace."

Ace glared at her and then walked back over to Eyeball. The brunette looked at the doors and her eyes hardened when she saw who had just came in. Elise Lancaster. Elise had been Brooke's best friend, but one little rumor changed all that. Now the two hated each other. Brooke hoped that Elise wouldn't notice her, but unfortunately she did.

"Well, well, well who do we have here?" Elise asked in a bitter sweet tone.

"Elise." Brooke greeted tensely.

"Brooke, look at you, ugly as ever" Brooke wanted to slap that fake smile off of Elise's face badly.

"Who do we have here?" Ace's voice sounded. Brooke looked behind her to find Ace standing behind her, hand around her waist as usual when he wanted to show dominance.

"Ace." Elise smiled seductively at him.

"Elise." Ace's eyes seemed to be undressing her. Brooke curled her hand into a fist and willed herself to calm down. She looked over at Eyeball and shook her head when she saw that he was drunk and leaving with someone already.

_'Jackass' _she thought.

"So what do you say?" Elise asked, bringing Brooke back to reality.

"We'll see." Ace replied, Brooke didn't notice the wink that he sent to Elise or even heard their conversation.

The platinum blonde smiled, and looked towards Brooke.

"Well Brooke, I'll see you around… slut."

That did it. Brooke lunged herself at Elise, and the two went at it. Ace managed to pull Brooke off of Elise, though, he didn't want too, he enjoyed the little cat fight as well as the entire male population in the building.

"Brooke I think you need to go." Ace was calm, and that pissed Brooke off even more, but she hid it.

"Fine."

Brooke walked quickly out of the building and sighed, how was she going to get home? Her only ride left, Ace probably wasn't going to give her a lift, and so walking was her only choice. Brooke shook her head and jogged back to her house. About thirty five minutes later, she arrived at her house and walked in. She looked at the clock and wondered how time had managed to pass by so quickly. It was already seven.

She grabbed a cup and filled it up with water. She drank it down eagerly and tried to catch her breath. Brooke ran her hands over her face and groaned lightly.

"You ok?"

Startled, Brooke spun around in her chair, and relaxed when she that it was only Charlie.

"Yeah, just jogged and ran for a little bit" Brooke rasped out.

"All the way from Irby's?" Charlie asked, Brooke only nodded, and drank more water, "That's a long way from here" he whistled.

"Well, it was a good workout." Brooke replied, finally regaining her breath, "Where's Linds?" she asked, not seeing her usually hyped up little sister.

"Napping." Charlie replied.

Brooke nodded, "Thanks."

"For what?"

"Looking after her, and everything," Brooke smiled, "You don't have to do any of that you know."

"I know, but I want to, plus you're my best friend." Charlie grinned, and hugged her. Brooke hugged him back, and never wanted to let him go.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: **

Ace grunted in pleasure and fell on top of Elise. The two of them were breathing heavily and were coated in sweat. The thin bed sheet clung to their bodies like a second skin, and made them feel even hotter than they already were.

"That was amazing Ace." Elise gushed, tracing her finger over his chest.

"Of course it was. I _am _the best after all." Ace smirked cockily.

"Are you ever going to leave that bitch?"

Of course by 'that bitch', she meant Brooke.

"No." Ace replied casually.

A frustrated expression etched itself onto her features, and she tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder. Angling her body so that she was looking at him, Elise knew he could her annoyance, yet curiosity, through her stormy grey eyes.

"Are you in love with her?"

For a moment, Ace felt his breathing cease for a few seconds as he pondered this question. Once he thought of his answer, he gazed down at his mistress, and saw Elise was serious about this question.

"Nope."

"Then why aren't you leaving her?"

"Because I gotta have a girl on my arm at all times." He answered, although, he didn't feel 100% confident about the answer.

"You're such a liar." Elise hissed.

"If you're just gonna accuse me of something as stupid as this, you might as well leave." Ace stated coldly.

He watched as Elise huffed in anger, and got dressed once she found her discarded clothing. Ace didn't flinch one bit as his bedroom slammed shut with enough force to bring down a couple pictures that were hung up. The blonde then proceeded to glare at the spot Elise had just vacated. Did he love Brooke?

Ace pondered over that question for the rest of the night.

_**Charlie and Brooke: **_

Once Charlie and Brooke had let go of each other, he noticed the scratch marks.

"What happened to you Bee?" He asked while gingerly touching the wounds.

"I got into a fight." Brooke tried not wince; they stung like a bitch at the moment.

"With Ace?"

"No!" Brooke laughed lightly. The idea was amusing; cat fight with Ace. "_Elise._"

Charlie noticed the tone in Brooke's voice. It was like she was speaking about the most disgusting thing to ever walk the earth. Considering everything Brooke and Elise went through, Charlie wouldn't be surprised if his comparison was true.

"Don't let her get to you." He advised.

"I know, but I can't help it." Brooke replied. "You know, I'm still pissed at her for what she did to me."

"I know you are, but come on. At least try…for me?" Charlie grasped her hand, and stared into her eyes.

Brooke chewed on her bottom lip, and felt her heartbeat speed up. This was something she hadn't felt in so long. The only other time she felt it was when she first met Ace, and fell for his deceit. Since then, she had never felt this feeling…but this was Charlie, her closest friend. She couldn't possibly…

"Alright, I'll try just for you." She smiled. The idea still lingered in her mind, but for now, she'd ignore it.

Charlie was about to reply when a yawn got both their attentions.

"I'm hungry," Lindsey stated, walking over to the duo.

"What you hungry for Linds?" Brooke smiled.

Lindsey thought for a moment, "Chicken sandwich."

"One chicken sandwich coming up." Brooke said, getting up.

"Make that two." Charlie said, holding up two fingers.

"Sure thing…CharChar." Brooke giggled and shook her head.

Charlie rolled his eyes, but couldn't hold back the grin that was threatening to appear on his face.

"Shut up Bee" Charlie said, blushing a little.

"Love you too Charlie" Brooke replied, a bit sarcastically while rolling her eyes, and made her way to the refrigerator to make the chicken sandwiches.

She pulled out the chicken, got the bread and asked if they wanted lettuce, the two turned down the offer with disgusted faces making Brooke laugh.

_**Ace and Eyeball: **_

Ace stared down into the bottom of his beer bottle.

"You ok?" Eyeball asked, staring at his friend in suspicion.

"Yea, I'm fine." Ace lied, not wanting to admit the question that was bugging him.

Eyeball eyed him a little, but left it alone. Ace still hadn't figured out if he was in love with Brooke yet; if he was damn, if he wasn't damn. He never had these feelings about any girl before; actually he had never been confused so badly by any girl that is until he got together with Brooke Dystra.

"How's Elise?" Eyeball asked.

"She's still good" Ace smirked a little.

His little mistress might've been a little upset at him for the things he had 'denied' her little accusations, but one look and a fuck will put him back on Elise's good graces. It's always worked with every girl he's gotten around with, so Elise would be no different. Although, she has proven to be more of a handful than other girls.

"Dude you should let me take a crack at her." Eyeball said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Hell no." Ace snorted.

He didn't like sharing his girls.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six: **

Brooke got done making the sandwiches and gave them out to her hungry friend and sister. She turned around and had to smile when she saw Lindsey and Charlie joking around. It was times like these that she loved the most. It was only because it gave her the illusion that she had a happy family.

"Here are your sandwiches." Brooke stated cheerfully.

She watched as the two took the sandwiches eagerly, but when she didn't hear two certain words, she cleared her throat. The two looked at her, and then at each other.

"Thank you." They both said with their mouths filled with food.

"You're welcome" Brooke snickered, but she smiled at how peaceful it was.

She reminisced about the days when her mother would come enjoy her time with the family and when her dad was still alive. Even back then, Charlie still felt like an edition to the family. But now…now it was just the three of them, and she was going to make sure that _nothing _got in the way of this.

A knock on the door echoed throughout the home.

"I'll get it guys." Brooke said when she saw they were going to get up.

She sauntered towards the front door, and opened it. When she saw who was standing there, she was flabbergasted. Brooke was momentarily at a loss for words, and she knew that the other person on the opposite side of the threshold could see it. Brooke finally muttered out a name after a few more seconds.

"S-Sh-Shana" Brooke stammered; a little shocked at seeing her sister. Shana pulled Brooke in for a hug.

"Brookie" Shana replied, hugging her sister.

Brooke pulled away, and looked at her sister curiously.

"What are you doing here? I thought you moved out permanently?" Brooke questioned and noticed all the changes that her sister had done to herself.

Her brown hair was now red, her eyes still brown, and she also had a nose ring.

"Ah just missed the house a little, and I missed you and Linds which reminds me where is she?" Shana went into the house, and looked at her sister in curiosity.

There was no way this was just a visit, there had to be something more. She had moved out just a few months before their dad had died, and before Brooke had met Charlie.

Brooke shook her head and went back into the kitchen. She watched as Shana and Lindsey embraced and then her eyes drifted to Charlie. The brunette's eyes narrowed a little when she saw that he had taken an interest in her sister.

Brooke didn't know why, but she felt a pang of jealousy. She shook her head, why did she feel jealous?

"So Brookie wanna introduce me to your friend?" Shana asked, jutting her thumb out at Charlie.

"Right, Shana this is Charlie, Charlie this is my sister Shana." Brooke introduced. She watched as Shana send a flirtatious smile towards Charlie, Brooke clenched her teeth.

"Nice to meet you Shana." Charlie said, ignoring the flirtatious smile.

"Nice to meet you too Charlie," Shana then looked at Brooke, "So where's mom?"

"Still in her room" Brooke said, looking at her sister with a quizzical expression.

"Are you going to stay Shana?" Lindsey asked, her eyes sparkling brightly with curiosity.

Shana smiled, "Well, if Brooke wants me too then yeah I'll stay" she and Lindsey both looked at Brooke.

The brunette held up her hands, "Don't look at me, go ask mom."

Charlie looked curiously at Brooke, why hadn't she mentioned that she had another sister other than Lindsey? Though, he didn't voice his question, his questions were going to be asked when he and Brooke were alone.

He watched as Shana and Lindsey interacted, and wondered why they were ignoring Brooke after Shana's questions had been asked. The blonde looked at Brooke and watched as she licked her lips, he had a sudden thought of kissing her luscious lips. He shook his head, a little shocked at the sudden thought of kissing his best friend.

"Anyways, I'm going to go ask mom if I can stay for a bit." Shana announced.

"Okay?" Brooke couldn't really bring herself to care. Shana had been gone for so long that she didn't know how to act around her.

Brooke watched as Lindsey bounded after Shana. Once they were up the stairs, and far from the kitchen, she turned towards Charlie. She saw the questioning look in his eyes, and could only shrug for the moment.

"Why haven't you ever mentioned that you had an older sister?" Charlie asked.

"I…I just never liked bringing her up."

"Why?"

"Shana's gonna stay for a couple weeks!" Lindsey ran in, shouting at the top of her lungs.

Charlie looked at Brooke, and he could see the disappointment in her eyes.

_**Ace and Elise:**_

Ace walked up to Elise's house and knocked, more like pounded, on the door. He heard some shuffling on the other side of the door, and then it opened, revealing Elise in her pajamas.

"What do you want Ace?" she asked, looking at him with a curious, but annoyed expression.

"Not much, you know exactly what I want." Ace replied, inviting himself into her home.

Elise shut the door and stared at Ace.

"Did you actually think about my question?" Elise leaned against the wall and crossed her arms over her chest. Ace stared at her chest.

"Yup."

"And?"

"Like I said, I don't love her." He said, pushing her up against the wall and crashed his lips onto hers.

Elise moaned into his mouth, and in the back of her mind, she knew he was lying to her and to himself. The two moved up the stairs, clothes dropped soundlessly on the stairs and on the floor, he pushed her into her bedroom and slammed the door shut. Grunts, moans, and banging could be heard from outside the room.

_'Thank goodness mom and dad aren't home'_ Elise thought hazily.

She arched her back and moaned as Ace thrusted roughly into her. Ace pushed deeper into her, and groaned out Brooke's name instead of Elise's. Elise dug her nails into Ace's back. She could not see what he saw in her. She was the one that liked him since…forever! And yet, Brooke was the one that got him. That bitch.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven: **

"That was a great meal sis." Shana commented as they all sat around the table feeling full from the meal that Brooke had prepared for them.

"Yeah definitely." Charlie agreed, staring at his best friend with his usual smile. Lindsey yawned, but nonetheless nodded her head in agreement.

"So how long are you going to stay here for Shana?" Brooke queried.

"Oh you know, maybe a month or two." Shana replied.

"Oh, that's a while."

"Yeah, but anyways, I'm off to my room. Night guys."

"Night." They chorused.

"Do you mind if I stay the night? It's pretty late, and I don't wanna walk all the way back home." Charlie stated.

"Sure., you can stay in my room like usual." Brooke giggled, ignoring the butterflies that had invaded her stomach. She had shared a room with Charlie before so why was she feeling this now?

"Alright." Charlie nodded, smiling. "Thanks."

"No problem, now go wash up and go to bed." Brooke ushered them out of the kitchen.

The trio went upstairs, and Lindsey went to the bathroom while Charlie and Brooke went into her room. Brooke had her own bathroom, so it was nice not having to share a bathroom.

"You wanna take a shower first or what?" she asked.

"I'll take it first thanks." Charlie replied going into the bathroom.

"Alright." Brooke nodded, and went to sit on her bed. She took out a book and began reading.

"Brooke." The brunette looked up to see Lindsey standing there.

"Yeah Linds?"

"Tuck me in?" Lindsey asked, smiling and holding out her arms.

Brooke smiled back and nodded. She got up, put the book down, and went into Lindsey's room. Lindsey ran and jumped on her bed, Brooke sat on the bed, and tucked Lindsey in.

"Want me to read you a story?"

Lindsey nodded, "Yeah, read The Cat in the Hat!"

Brooke grinned, she loved that book. Brooke fetched it out of the bookshelf and began reading to the tired seven year old. Halfway through the book Lindsey fell asleep and Brooke quietly put the book down, pulled the covers over her little sister, turned the lights off, and closed the door silently. She walked back to her room and froze when she found Charlie fresh out of the bathroom, water droplets running down his torso and only had a towel covering the lower portion of his body.

"Umm….do you still have the clothes that I left here some time ago?" Charlie asked, turning a little red.

Brooke only nodded, biting her lip and tried to not stare at him.

_'When did he get a six pack_?' Brooke thought to herself leaving the room to go get him the clothes that he had left.

She wondered why she acted like that, she'd seen him like that before, but she hadn't felt butterflies back then. Once she got the clothes, she went back to her room and gave the clothes to Charlie.

"Thanks," he said, going back into the bathroom, a blush still staining his cheeks.

"You're welcome." She replied, falling onto her bed, she rolled onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling.

She wondered how she never noticed that Charlie got a little more muscular. When she met him, he was lanky, now he was more muscular, and she had a random thought of running her hands all over those nicely defined abs. Brooke shook her head of the image that was playing in her mind.

"Bathroom's all yours," Charlie said, coming out of the bathroom fully clothed, Brooke felt a pang of disappointment, but hid it.

"Alright thanks," Brooke smiled and went into the bathroom. Charlie stared at the bathroom door, and then abruptly turned away from the door, and stopped his thoughts when he thought about opening the door.

"Hey Charlie." Shana greeted, coming into the room.

"Hey Shana." Charlie replied, scratching the back of his head.

"I was wondering if you could show me around town cause it's been a long time since I've been here so can you show me around the town to freshen my memory?" She asked, twirling a strand of red hair around her finger.

"Sure I guess?" Charlie questioned more than stated.

"Great, thanks" Shana leaned towards him and pecked him on the cheek.

She then left the room. Charlie stared at the door, got up, and closed it. He touched his cheek where she had kissed him, and unconsciously wondered if Shana would say yes if he asked her out. Charlie sighed and shook his head, he climbed onto Brooke's bed and made himself comfortable.

He was interested in Brooke's sister, yes, but what was this feeling that he felt whenever he thought or saw Brooke? He was so damn confused right now. Shana seemed to have an interest in him too, but Brooke, he shook his head. Brooke was just his best friend right? Charlie sighed, and looked towards the bathroom when he heard the door open. He couldn't help but stare at Brooke.

Her hair was wet, water droplets covered her bare shoulders, and the towel clung to her curvy body.

_'If only it would fall'_ Charlie dazedly thought as he continued to stare, she seemed to glow, but then he noticed the scratch marks on her back, did Elise really have that much of an advantage over Brooke during their fight?

Brooke went back into the bathroom. Charlie made up his mind; he needed to stop thinking these thoughts about Brooke. They were just friends, but then again just friends meant that he wouldn't feel like he was cheating on Brooke whenever he felt like asking another girl out!

The brunette came back out of the bathroom, and shook water out of her hair.

"So what did Ace want tonight?" Charlie asked, breaking the silence.

"Sex."

"And…"

"He didn't get any."

"And Ace didn't do anything?" Charlie knew that Brooke saying no would cause something to happen between them.

"No, but I think it is cause he got a kick out of seeing me and Elise fighting."

"What'd he do?"

"He pulled me off of her and told me to leave." Brooke replied, lying down on the bed.

"He told _you _to leave?"

"Yes." Brooke replied, frustrated, "I mean what the hell? He sends his lap dog to tell me to go there and then he tells me to leave." Brooke groaned.

Charlie wrapped his arms around her, and she cuddled closer to his side. "Jerk."

"Ya think?"

"So why didn't ever mention you had a sister?" Charlie asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Like I said, I don't like bringing her up." Brooke replied.

"Bee…" he said in a tone that Brooke knew all too well.

"Let's just say, Shana and I aren't as close as we used to be."

Charlie frowned, the answer was too vague and he was curious, but he let it go…for now. He traced her abdomen, and heard her take a sharp breath. Maybe she felt something for him too? He felt her shift positions which resulted in her tank top being pulled up slightly. From there, he saw something, but when he lifted her tank top up a little to see, his eyes widened.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight: **

Ace thrusted once more and then spilled himself inside of Elise. He collapsed on top of her, and then rolled over onto his back and pulled Elise to his side. They both panted, and were covered in sweat from their activity.

"You're so amazing Ace." Elise stated.

"Why, thank you." He smirked while his tone was laced with arrogance.

"So what're you going to do tomorrow?" Elise asked, reaching for a cigarette and placing it between her lips.

"Oh the usually, hang out a little with Brooke." Ace replied, lighting up Elise's cigarette, and then lighting up his own.

"You know, sometimes I think she's got you whipped." Elise groaned.

Ace turned and glared fiercely at her.

"She does not have me whipped," he sharply said.

"Yeah right!" Elise retorted, snorting. "Ace, you know she frustrates you cause she's the only one you can't sweet talk or manipulate to fuck you. It makes you mad to know that you have to beat her to get her to fuck you!"

Ace roughly grabbed her arms and pinned her under him, he smirked down hatefully and slyly at her when he saw the fear that her grey eyes held.

"Remember who you're talking to Ellie," he said in mockingly sweet tone.

"Ace let go of me" Elise said, trying to wiggle out of his tight grasp. She knew he was going to leave bruises.

"No" and with that he smashed his lips onto hers and the two fucked once more.

_**Charlie and Brooke: **_

Charlie stared at the huge yellowing bruise that marred Brooke's abdomen.

"Bee…what the hell is this?" Charlie shook his head; he was shocked at what he was looking at. How the hell did a bruise like this even happen? How hadn't he noticed it before?

"Please tell me Ace wasn't the one who did this."

"He was drunk…" Brooke chewed on her bottom lip.

"So what if he was drunk?!" Charlie yelled, however, it wasn't loud enough to attract attention. "That's no reason for _you _to have a fucking bruise on your stomach!"

"Will you keep your voice down?!" Brooke hissed, placing her hand on Charlie's mouth. "There are other people in this house."

Charlie glared at her, but complied with her request.

"Tell me what happened."

"Like I said, he was drunk. I was sleeping at the time, and he wanted to do something, I don't remember what. So he tried waking me up, but apparently I didn't wake up, and then, well, things just went downhill from there."

It may not have been the entire truth, but that was basically the outline for the whole thing.

"Brooke, you gotta tell me when this happens." Charlie sighed, pulling her close to him, and kissing the top of her head.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled, curling her body around his; the sound of his heartbeat soothing her into a peaceful state of mind.

"Just be honest with me Brooke, I'm the one who'll take care of you, not him." Charlie yawned, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

Brooke tilted her head up, and placed a kiss on Charlie's cheek.

"I know you will." She whispered before drifting off to sleep.

_**Shana:**_

Shana lay on her stomach, writing in her diary. She smiled and closed the book she had kept for years. Shana rolled onto her back and smiled at the thought of Charlie. She had only met him tonight, but she found her new crush.

_'He's so cute!'_ She thought, she had to get him to go out with her, but how?

That was her last thought before falling into a dreamless sleep.

_**Morning: **_

When morning arrived, everyone in the Dystra household was up and bustling, all except for Brooke and Charlie. They were still in bed.

"Lindsey can you go wake Charlie and Brooke up?" Shana asked her adorable little sister.

"Sure!" Lindsey shouted, running up the stairs and barged into Brooke's room. She climbed onto the bed and jumped up and down, shouting 'wake up!' Charlie and Brooke both groaned, and rolled over. Charlie extended his arm and wrapped it around Lindsey's waist and pulled her onto the bed in between him and Brooke.

"Lindsey…sleep…it's too early princess." Charlie mumbled sleepily.

Lindsey giggled, and wriggled out of his grasp.

"No it's not, it's eleven!" she cried happily.

"Eleven already?" Brooke groaned, looking at the clock, she groaned and hid her face against Charlie's shoulder.

"Shana made breakfast." Lindsey said. "Besides, remember what happened when you wouldn't get up?"

Brooke's head immediately shot up, "Don't even remind me of that time Linds." She warned.

"But it was funny." Lindsey said, pouting.

"What happened?" Charlie asked.

"Someone got a bucket of ice cold water and dumped it on me." Brooke replied, sitting up and cracking her spine.

Charlie laughed, and caught the pillow that she had thrown at him.

"Come on Bee, go back to bed so that someone can dump ice cold water on you." Charlie laughed, and Lindsey tried to cover her own laughter.

"Hardy har har, laugh all you want," Brooke said, getting some clothes and walking into the bathroom.

Lindsey and Charlie high fived each other before Charlie got up and stretched. Brooke came back out of the bathroom and placed the dirty clothes in the hamper.

"Let's go get some breakfast guys." She said, walking out of the room. The other two followed.

"Morning Brookie" Shana said bitter sweetly, but Brooke heard the undertone of her sister's voice.

"Morning Shana" Brooke replied fake smiling.

"Charlie, you're still going to show me around town right?" Shana asked, but her eyes lingered on Brooke.

"Umm…I don't know if I would be the best guy to show you around…" Charlie replied, sitting in between Brooke and Lindsey with his plate of bacon, eggs, and French toast.

"But you said last night that you would." Shana pouted.

Brooke looked between Charlie and Shana, what the hell?

"Sorry Shana, I just remembered I have something to do today." Charlie apologized. It wasn't a lie, he had to go to work, plus finding out Brooke's giant bruise still lingered in his mind. He wanted to punch Ace.

Shana pouted, but didn't reply. She was looking forward to spending some time with this cute friend of her sister's.

"I can show you around!" Lindsey shouted. She definitely wanted to spend more time with her long lost sister.

"Okay! You can show me around Lindsey!" Shana laughed, though, it really wasn't what she wanted.

"Shouldn't you know where everything is?" Brooke asked, a bit _too _bitterly.

"It's been a while."

Brooke was about to reply, but a knock at the door interrupted her. It seemed like a lot of things were interrupting her nowadays.

"I'll get it; you just sit and relax Brookie." Shana smiled while walking away from the room.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine: **

Brooke glared holes into Shana's back. She didn't really appreciate Shana just coming back home, and acting like she had never left. Shana had something up her sleeve, but Brooke was a bit afraid to find out what.

"Brooke, eat your food before it gets cold!" Lindsey laughed.

Brooke gave Lindsey half a smile, and began to poke at her food. She didn't feel like eating anymore, but the look Lindsey gave her made her eat the food that Shana made.

_**Shana: **_

Shana opened the door, and her head titled when she saw who stood there. He changed a lot in his looks, but she could still recognize him.

"Is that really you Ace?" She asked while a smile of seduction settled on her lips.

"Yeah, who the hell are you?" He asked.

"I'm hurt you don't remember me Ace. I mean, we did used to hang out a lot before I left." Shana feigned hurt.

"Shana?" Ace was shocked.

"The one and only baby." She smirked. "So what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to hang out with my girlfriend." He chuckled at the look on Shana's face.

"Brooke? You're dating Brooke? Why?"

The Ace that she knew from long ago wouldn't have wanted to date a girl like Brooke. Brooke was too nice, and he had always loved a bad girl. This was a shocking thing for her to learn. From the look on his face, however, she could see that he was still the biggest player Castle Rock had ever had.

"For reasons." Ace shrugged. "Where is she?"

"She's busy eating. Ya know, I feel kinda hurt that you don't care that little ol' me is back." Shana sniffled jokingly.

Ace chuckled. There was no doubt in his mind that he had missed Shana's presence. Back then, she was as devious as he was. He wondered if she still was. Looking into her eyes, he could see that she was still as tricky as a snake. Maybe it was time they got caught up with each other.

"Well, if that's how you truly feel, then I suppose I can make room in my schedule for you." He licked his lips.

"Well then, I suppose that's good enough for me." Shana rolled her eyes. "Do you want me to get Brooke?"

"Yes."

"Alright, just wait out here I guess."

Even as she turned her back on him, she could still feel his stare on her; as if marking her for future use.

_**Brooke:**_

"Your boyfriend is here Brookie." Shana announced while leaning against the kitchen wall.

"Why?" Brooke mumbled. She was enjoying her time with Lindsey and Charlie.

"How am I supposed to know?" Shana huffed.

Brooke curled her lip in annoyance, but got up to put her dish away before leaving.

"I'll walk with ya to the door. I gotta go to work anyways." Charlie stated as he fell into step with his brunette friend.

"Thanks…CharChar." Brooke was never going to let that nickname die.

"You're welcome." Charlie smiled as he tickled her sides.

"Stop it!" Brooke laughed.

Once the two made it to her front porch, they both quieted down as they saw Ace standing there. His glare was making them both uncomfortable. There was no doubt in either of their minds that Ace could, and probably would, hurt them if he wanted too.

"Where are you doing here Charlie?" Ace questioned coolly.

"I had breakfast with Brooke and her family," Ace scared Charlie, no doubt about that, but for some reason he felt oddly confident at that moment, must be the breakfast.

Ace glared at Charlie.

"Is that so?" he questioned, no emotion in his tone whatsoever.

"Yeah it is" Brooke answered before Charlie could. "So what do you want Ace?"

Ace looked back over at Brooke.

"Just want to spend time with my lovely girlfriend." He stated.

Brooke and Charlie looked at each other and then looked at Ace. There was no way he wanted to just _spend _time with her, he wanted something. The both of them could sense that. After debating with herself, Brooke finally made a decision.

"I guess I'll see you later Charlie" Brooke said, turning to look at him.

"Alright" Charlie replied.

The blonde started to the leave the house, but before he left, he whispered something into her ear which made her slap his chest lightly. He laughed lightly, but gave her a serious look and then left. Brooke only smiled a little, sighed, and then turned back to look at Ace.

"Ok…so what are we going?" she asked curiously.

"You'll see." Was all he said before walking away.

Brooke followed him and got into his car. All she wanted to do was spend some time in bed sleeping today.

_**Charlie: **_

Charlie didn't have to walk that far to get to work. He worked in a convenient store, it had good pay and he didn't need to do much.

"Right on time Charlie" The manager, Mark, said impressed. When he first hired Charlie, he'd always be a minute or so late to work.

"Yeah." Charlie replied. "So what do I have to do today Uncle Mark?"

"Just stack some things on the shelves." Mark replied, nodding over to the boxes that were in the corner of the store.

"Alright." Charlie walked over to the boxes and began to open them one and stack them on the shelves.

After a few moments of silence, Mark finally asked, "Boy what is wrong with you today? You're never this quiet."

Charlie stopped and looked at his boss, "Just…have a lot of things on my mind."

"Somethin wrong?" Mark asked concerned for his nephew.

Charlie sighed, "I guess…"

"Is it about Brooke?"

"Maybe."

"Is she still dating that friend of yours?" Mark asked.

"Yes."

Mark frowned, he had met Brooke on a couple occasions, he thought she was a sweet girl, but when he found out she was dating Ace, he couldn't help but wonder why a sweet girl like her was with him?

"Why hasn't she dumped that sorry piece of crap yet?" Mark didn't like Ace; he had robbed his store multiple times in the past.

"I don't know Uncle Mark." Charlie chuckled a little.

"Somethin else on your mind Charlie?" Damn Mark for being so observant.

"It's nothin uncle, don't worry about it." Charlie replied, finished with stacking things from the second box he had opened. Two boxes down, one more to go.

"If you say so" Mark gave Charlie a look, but let the subject drop.

Once Charlie finished stacking the contents of the box, he was now the cashier. He leaned back in his chair, propped his feet up on the counter, and read a random magazine. He heard the door to the store open and close.

"Charlie?" A voice questioned.

Charlie looked up from the magazine, and grinned.

"Hey Billy, how was your vacation?"

"It was fine. Vern was being a little shit though. You work here?" Billy Tessio questioned.

Charlie nodded, and looked at his friend curiously.

"Why are you red?"

"'Cause I'm sunburned." Billy replied, frowning and looking at his red skin.

Charlie laughed.

_**Brooke and Ace: **_

Brooke looked at Ace confusedly when he pulled up at the carnival.

"Ace are you feeling ok?" She was seriously freaked out now, Ace never did anything like this, ever.

"I feel fine baby." Ace replied, smiling at her.

Brooke looked wary, but let it go. Ace's eye twitched a little, he wasn't used to acting like a sweetheart. It was frustrating for him. But he wanted to show Brooke that he could act like a good guy, for the sake of keeping her around some more of course. He didn't know why, but the thought of Brooke leaving him infuriated him to no end.

Brooke and Ace spent the next two hours at the carnival.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten: **

Elise was walking down the street when she walked into someone. Both of them fell onto the ground, and Elise looked up, ready to tell the person off, but stopped when she recognized who it was. She might've changed her looks a little, but Elise knew exactly who she was before she even asked.

"Shana?" Elise asked, wanting to make sure that it was her.

"Hey Elise." Shana grinned, and helped her up.

"Damn girl, you changed your looks." Elise said, looking her old friend up and down.

"Yeah, I just couldn't live with my other look." Shana replied. "You've changed a bit too."

"I guess." Elise replied. The only things that had changed about her were her height, and that her pimples were all gone.

"So how come you ain't hanging with Brooke?" Shana asked.

"Don't you remember?"

"Oh right, forgot about that" Shana said, how could she forget, she was the one who tore their friendship apart. Of course, Else and Brooke didn't know that.

"So what're you doing back here girly?" Elise asked, as the two walked to a bench and sat down.

"Well," Shana said, twirling a strand of her dark red hair between her fingers, "I wanted to visit, see if there were any cute guys around."

"There's more isn't there?"

"You remember David right?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, he told me that we were a mistake and that I should leave, he dumped me!" Shana hissed.

"That's it?"

"He said that he should've gone for Brooke first, instead of me."

Elise gasped.

"He said that? Damn, Brooke managed to break you two up without even being there."

"I know." Shana replied dejectedly.

"Is that why you're here? To get back at Brooke?" Elise asked.

"She's part of the reason, but I think I just wanted to come home." Shana ran a hand through her hair.

"How're you gonna get back at Brooke?" Elise asked, curiosity shining in her stormy grey eyes.

"I'll think of something."

_**Brooke and Ace: **_

The feeling of doubt and fear about Ace's change of nature had all disappeared after the first ride. After that, she became more comfortable around him; just like the first time she met him. Back then, her feelings for him were _real_, but now, she knew they were long gone. She may have been at ease, but the intimate feelings will _never _return.

"What made you want to do this today?" She asked after they were seated with some food by their sides.

"Do I really need a reason to want to spend time with my girlfriend?" Ace raised his eyebrow as he stared intently at her.

"Well…" She tried to think of a reason, but ultimately failed. "I guess not."

"And you're having fun, right?" Ace pressed on.

"Yeah…" She truly was having fun with him, but her gut still told her that something was wrong.

"Then quit questioning it, you and I are just bonding a little." He grinned as he leaned in closer to kiss her on the cheek.

Brooke chewed on lip, but nodded.

_**Charlie and Billy: **_

_(Twenty Minutes Later)_

"So is Brooke still dating Ace?" Billy asked.

"Yeah." Charlie answered.

Billy could see from the look on Charlie's face that he was definitely sick of the fact that Brooke was still with Ace. To some extent, even _he _thought that Brooke should've left Ace a while ago. Of course he wouldn't voice that out, but he knew that Brooke deserved someone more caring.

Before he could ask if Charlie had any feelings for Brooke, the subject of discussion came skipping into the store.

"Hey guys! Whoa, Billy, you're really burnt." Brooke giggled while holding a stuffed animal.

"Hiya Brookie." Billy grinned at her. "Where'd you get the stuffed animal?"

"Ace actually won this for me at the carnival today." Brooke explained, looking at the teddy bear.

"That was…nice of him." Charlie said, gazing at Brooke with a soft look in his eyes.

"Nice? More like weird!" Billy chuckled.

Brooke only smiled because it was nice of Ace, but it was still pretty weird. Half of her wanted to believe that Ace was changing for the better, but the other half believed that Ace had a hidden agenda. She was hoping for the former, but part of her wanted to see what being with someone else could be like.

"Charlie your shift is up!" Mark shouted from his office.

The shout startled the trio, but only Charlie replied to it since it was directed at him.

"So, you guys wanna walk home with me?" Brooke smiled.

Billy and Charlie looked at each other, and shrugged.

"Sure." They both replied.

Once Charlie had put his work gear away, the trio began walking towards Brooke's house. No one really said anything, but it was fine. Each were dwelling on their own thoughts, and so it wasn't awkward at all. But every silence's got to have an ending.

"So was the carnival fun?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, it was really fun actually. You guys should go." Brooke recommended.

"Ehh, I don't think I'd go there alone Brookie." Billy made a face as he said this.

"Come on! You guys would have fun!" Brooke giggled.

"Maybe if you came with us, we would." Charlie chuckled, throwing an arm around his best friend's shoulders.

Brooke grinned, and wrapped an arm around Charlie's waist.

"I wouldn't mind going to the carnival again!"

Billy could unquestionably see the chemistry that Charlie and Brooke had with each other. He didn't dare voice it to them, but they acted more like a couple than Brooke did with Ace. Anyone with a brain could see that Brooke was more at ease and a lot more happy than when she hanged around Ace.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven: **

It was now nighttime, and Brooke and Charlie were laying in her bed while Billy was snoring away in the guest room. The two friends were poking and tickling each other like there was no tomorrow. They made sure that their laughter wasn't too loud to wake anyone up, and kept up with their antics.

Once they were tired of what they were doing, they just laid next to each other. Brooke's body was curled against Charlie's, as usual, and their arms were wrapped around each other. Brooke felt completely relaxed as Charlie's hand soothingly rubbed her side.

"Remember the first time we met?" Charlie asked, smiling as he reminisced the moment.

"Yeah." Brooke laughed. "That was definitely a nice memory."

_**Four Years Ago: **_

_It had been a hot summer's day in June, and if Shana had still lived with them, she would have just gotten done celebrating her birthday about two weeks ago. She was now fourteen, and had run off to live with their aunt and uncle for unknown reasons. She left her family in distress over the situation, and a friend named with a last name of Merrill upset. _

_Young Brooke was preparing for her own birthday in about a month. She would be turning thirteen, and their youngest sister was only three. Lindsey would turn four in October. _

_For now, however, it was about seven in the evening, and their mother, Alana, was preparing dinner. She would prepare things faster, had it not been for the fact that she was missing some ingredients for her recipes. So she asked Brooke to run down to the grocery store to buy them. _

"_And remember, don't talk to any strangers. Come right back, understand?" Alana lectured. _

"_I understand, okay? Can I go now? Please?" Brooke begged, just wanting to get away from all the lecturing. _

"_Yes you may." _

"_Yay!" Brooke declared as she bounded out of the room, and out of the house. _

_Now that it was nighttime, the temperature was definitely cooler, making it much more enjoyable. It had definitely been too hot when it was daytime. Brooke was willing to bet that half the town didn't even want to leave their homes for the sake of the weather…except, maybe to go swimming. _

_Clutching the money that her mother gave her, Brooke saw the store, and jogged the way there. However, she was not paying attention and jogged straight into someone that had just came out of the store. _

_Umpth. _

_Brooke shook her dark brown hair out of her face, and looked at the person who she ran into. _

"_Sorry!" She apologized quickly while getting up and holding a hand out for the other person to grasp onto. _

"_It's alright. I should've paid attention to where I was going." He stated as he took her hand. _

"_I'm Brooke." She smiled. _

"_I'm Charlie." He replied, smiling back at her. He didn't know her, but he already felt relaxed around her. _

_**End. **_

"Honestly, I don't know if you and I would be friends if you hadn't ran into me that night." Charlie stated.

"We could've. I mean, you're part of the Cobras, and Ace had some interest back then too."

Charlie nodded, and tried to remember other good memories between them.

"Hey remember when you first introduced me to your family?"

Brooke laughed. How could she forget? Her dad had given Charlie a real treat when he first saw him.

"Oh yeah, I remember that. It was hilarious!"

"Your dad pulled a gun on me!"

"Exactly! Hilarious!" Brooke grinned.

_**Brooke's Birthday: **_

"_Are you sure it's okay?" Charlie asked nervously. This was honestly the first time he had been invited to a birthday party. _

"_It's fine." Brooke hoped that her smile would calm him down. _

"_If you say so." Charlie mumbled as he walked through the threshold into Brooke's home. _

_Charlie looked around and noticed that the house was nice and clean. The walls were decorated with pictures of the family, and the whole house smelled of delicious food. It was better than any of the house that the Cobras lived in. _

"_You have a nice house." Charlie complimented. _

"_Thank you." Brooke ushered him into the living room. _

"_Oh! Who's your friend Brookie?" Alana asked, smiling warmly at Charlie. _

"_This is Charlie Hogan momma. Charlie, this is my mom." Brooke introduced. _

"_Well, nice to meet you Charlie. Please, make yourself at home. I'll bring some drinks for you." Alana said as she walked into the kitchen. _

_Charlie was surprised; most parents wouldn't even give him the time of day. Obviously it stemmed from his status in the town. So, to be treated like how Alana treated him was a change, a very nice change that made him feel at home. _

"_And who are you?" Another voice asked. _

"_Oh, hi dad! This is my friend Charlie." Brooke announced. _

"_Nice to meet you…sir?" Charlie felt intimidated by Brooke's father. He stood at maybe six feet, and was a scruffy looking man. He was definitely someone who'd look like he would be protective of his daughter. _

_"I'll be right back." _

_Brooke and Charlie looked at each other and then back at the spot Lionel had just vacated. Once he came back, Charlie felt downright terrified while Brooke was stifling her laughter. _

"_If you're gonna be friends with my daughter, you better promise to take care of her." Lionel said as he looked at his gun. _

"_I- I promise sir!" Charlie stammered. _

"_Lionel! You put that thing away! And quit intimidating the boy! Look at him! He's almost shaking like a leaf!" Alana demanded as she gave him a cup of fruit punch. _

"_Fine." Lionel sulked as he put his gun away. _

_**End. **_

"Hehe, my dad was so protective." Brooke smiled.

"More like he was terrifying." Charlie mumbled. He had become friends with Brooke's dad after the incident though. He had become so close with the family that any burden of theirs, almost felt like his own.

"Oh shush." Brooke snickered, but then had a somber expression slither onto her lovely features. "I really miss him."

"I miss him too." Charlie whispered as he placed a light kiss on top of her head.

_**October:**_

_It was getting close to Halloween, but it was getting even closer to Lindsey's birthday. Lindsey was really excited for her birthday. She had invitations made and everything! She was going to invite all of her classmates! She was also inviting Charlie, who had become like a big brother to her. _

"_Mommy! What kind of cake are you going to make me?!" Lindsey asked, hopping up and down. _

"_Your favorite kind! Chocolate and vanilla." Alana replied with a warm twinkle in her eyes. _

"_Yay!" _

_Lindsey's excitement was definitely entertaining Brooke and Charlie, who were sitting on the couch. The two had become super close in the last couple of months, and they felt like they had known each their entire lives. _

"_She sure is excited." Charlie noted. _

"_Yeah, but you would be too if it was your birthday coming up, and you could do almost anything." Brooke laughed lightly while laying her head on Charlie's shoulder. _

"_I guess so." Charlie tried to smile, but he didn't really know what having a birthday party like this felt like. His parents were dirt poor, and couldn't afford much. _

"_Charlie! Brooke! Play hide and seek with me!" Lindsey ran up to them, and jumped on the couch. _

"_Sure thing Linds!" _

_Both Charlie and Brooke went to hide while Lindsey sat on the couch counting. She may or may not have peeked a couple times. _

"_Ready or not! Here I come!" She shouted as she went to look for the two of them. _

_Alana felt happy as she heard the two older teens being found by Lindsey. Before she could think anymore of it, a knock at the door took her attention. She dried her hands, and walked to the front door. _

_When she opened the door, her eyebrows furrowed as she saw one of Lionel's co-workers standing there. _

"_Why, Bobby, what are you doing here?" She questioned. "And where is Lionel?" _

"_Alana…" Bobby looked down before looking back up at her, and taking off his hat. "I don't know how to say this politely, but um…" _

"_Oh Bobby, you're scaring me. What is it?" Through her eyes, Bobby could see the fear._

"_Lionel…Lionel is…he's dead." He said quickly. _

"_..What?!" _

_**End.**_

Alana had gathered them around, and when she told them the news, they all had tears in their eyes.

"He was a great guy." Charlie stated.

"He was an even better dad." Brooke mumbled sleepily.

Charlie noticed her sleepy change in demeanor, and pulled the blanket over their bodies.

"Go to sleep Brooke. It's getting late." He whispered while kissing the tip of her nose.

Brooke gave him a brilliant smile, and hugged him.

"Good night Charlie." She whispered as she snuggled close to him.

A warm feeling spread throughout his body, and he whispered good night to her.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve: **

The next morning, Brooke and Charlie were the first to get up. So they began to make breakfast, well, Brooke made breakfast. Charlie sat at the table and waited for her to be done. The bacon, eggs, and milkshakes were going to taste delicious once they were done!

"Can you please cook faster?" He questioned.

"Cook faster? Charlie, if I cooked faster, I doubt they would be fully cooked!" Brooke shook her head in amusement.

"Well, I'm hungry too! I'm the one making the food! How do you think I feel?!"

A knock at the door sounded.

"Why does it seem like there's always someone knocking on the door?" Brooke questioned. It seemed to be becoming a regular thing.

"I'll get it Bee." Charlie said. "You just keep cooking."

"Ya know, I'm probably the only person that'll ever cook for you!" Brooke teased.

"Shut up!" Charlie yelled back.

Once he stood in front of the threshold, Charlie opened the door, and tensed a bit when he saw Ace on the other side. It was unusual that he would be here this early. Why was he even here?

"Ace." Charlie greeted flatly.

"Why is it you hang around my girlfriend more than I do?" Ace questioned, watching Charlie like a hawk watching its prey.

"I'm her friend."

"I'm her _boyfriend._" Ace replied, putting emphasize on the word boyfriend.

Charlie glared at him, but said nothing else, and moved out of the way for Ace to come in. Ace went in and went straight for the kitchen. Once he saw Brooke, he pulled her into his arms. Brooke hugged him back, and looked at Charlie with a confused expression. Charlie shrugged, he didn't why the hell Ace was acting the way he was right now, but it was freaking him out a little too. Ace never showed this kind of affection. Never.

"Are you ok baby?" Ace asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine" Brooke nodded, her eyes flickering over to Charlie.

"That's good baby." He said, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"Yeeah." Brooke stressed the word a little bit. "Are _you _okay though? You don't have a fever or anything?"

Ace chuckled, "I'm fine Brooke."

Brooke didn't trust that statement, Ace wanted something. She could sense it. It was perfectly fine yesterday, but today, he was just _pouring _the affection on her. Something felt so wrong.

"Alright, if you say so." Brooke said warily, and then went back to putting the food on the plates.

Ace only smiled. Charlie looked between his friend and Ace. He was suspicious of Ace's behavior and he could see that Brooke was too. Something about his new attitude made Charlie's senses go on full alert.

"I'm going to go check on Lindsey." Charlie said awkwardly.

Brooke shot him a look that said, 'Are you crazy? You're going to leave me with him?'

Charlie smiled sheepishly and left the kitchen to check up on the seven year old. He opened her door and looked inside, and smiled a little when he saw that she was indeed still asleep. He closed the door quietly and turned around, and almost walked into Shana.

"Sorry Shana." He apologized and tried to get around her, but Shana stopped him.

"Is Lindsey sleeping?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"That's good. I remember back when she was still really young that she had nightmares that kept her awake for a long time."

"Oh? Well, at least she doesn't have any more nightmares." Charlie shrugged.

"Yeah, it's nice that she can finally sleep in peace." Shana said, stepping closer to Charlie, their bodies only millimeters apart.

"Umm…" Charlie had no idea what to say to that.

"You're so handsome Charlie" Shana said before pressing her lips to his.

Charlie was shocked at what was happening, but he quickly pushed her away. He wiped his hand over his lips and stared at Shana.

"I'm sorry Shana, I-I don't like you that way." He said, feeling uncomfortable. Yes he found her interesting, but the chemistry just wasn't there. He felt wrong.

"Charlie." Shana said, placing her hands on his face. "Just let loose honey."

She moved to kiss him again, but he pulled back and stepped a couple steps away from her.

"I'm sorry Shana, but you're not the girl for me." Charlie quickly made his way down the stairs and back into the kitchen.

He found Brooke looking at Ace. Charlie cocked up an eyebrow, why did it seem like she was examining him?

"Hey Charlie." Brooke greeted, once she tore her eyes away from her boyfriend.

"Hey Brooke, Ace." Charlie greeted, he eyed Ace warily before taking a seat next to his friend.

Ace secretly glared at Charlie, he wanted to snap his neck. He was always so close to her, Ace felt a feeling in his chest that he had never really felt before. Ace's eyes widened, was he…_jealous_? No, he couldn't be, he was Ace Merrill, a player. He didn't fall for the girl, the girl fell for him. He didn't know how to feel about this concept. Ace slammed his fist onto the table.

Startled, Brooke and Charlie stared at him. They both thought the same thing, 'What the fuck?'

"Ace?" Brooke questioned.

"I gotta go." Ace said, standing suddenly, "I'll see you later Brookie."

He kissed her hastily on the lips and walked out through the back door. Charlie and Brooke stared at his retreating form until they couldn't see him anymore.

"That was a little weird wasn't it?" Brooke questioned, looking at Charlie.

"Oh yeah." Charlie replied, looking at Brooke.

"Who just left?" Billy asked, walking into the kitchen.

"Ace." Brooke and Charlie both said.

Billy looked at the duo, "I think you two spend too much time together."

They only laughed at him, and offered him a plate of food.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen: **

Shana stood glaring at the wall, how could he just turn her down just like that? She was Shana Dystra, the heartbreaker, and when she wanted something, she sure as hell was going to get it, no matter what. She walked into her room and picked out her clothes for the day.

She looked at herself in the mirror and smirk, Charlie was going to be hers no matter what. For now though, she was going to go down and see Ace. She already knew he would be at Irby's.

She got dressed, and once she saw she looked good, Shana left her room.

"Where are you going Shana?" Lindsey asked, waking up just now.

"I'm going to go see an old friend." Shana grinned, ruffling her younger sister's hair.

"Oh okay, bye."

Shana went down the stairs, and left the house without saying anything to anyone in the kitchen.

_**Ace: **_

Ace walked into the bar, sat down and ordered a beer. He couldn't, he wasn't. Once his beer was slammed onto the counter, he took it and immediately downed it. He quickly ordered another one. Ace was so lost in his own thoughts that he never heard someone sit down next to him.

"Heya Ace." Shana grinned.

Ace blinked, and turned his head to look at Shana. He looked her over, and his eyes lingered on her legs. They looked great in that short skirt she was wearing. He honestly thought that maybe Shana could take his mind off of Brooke.

"Oh hey Shana." He replied coolly, as if he wasn't conflicted.

"Why were you just glaring at a beer bottle?" she asked. "What has it ever done to you?"

"I wasn't glaring." He chuckled, and motioned for the bartender to get Shana a beer as well.

"So what were you thinking about?" Shana asked, twirling her hair.

"Nothing much." He answered curtly.

"Oh come on! You know you can tell me anything." She smiled.

"Oh, so I can tell you things, but you couldn't tell me things." Ace stated.

Shana stared at him, confused for a little bit before she realized what he was talking about.

"Are you still upset about that?"

"Of course I am! You just left without even a goodbye." Ace had held this grudge ever since he found out.

"Look, I'm sorry okay? Things were just getting a bit…tough." Shana tried to explain.

"What exactly was getting tough?" Ace glared at her.

Shana chewed on lip, and began telling him the story. She had left because she had crossed someone that shouldn't have been crossed. Not only that, but because of all the lies she had spewed while there. She just wanted a new start, but the old life had caught up with her.

While she explained this to Ace, Elise had been secretly listening as well. She was shocked, and pissed about it. Shana had been the reason she and Brooke weren't friends anymore! Elise now felt so guilty about everything, especially trying to steal Ace away from Brooke.

She _had _to apologize to Brooke soon, and tell her what a bitch Shana was!


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen: **

Brooke was sitting in her living alone while Charlie had gone to work and Billy was still in the guest room for some reason. It was nice and peaceful. Lindsey was asleep again because she had been a little _too _hyper today, and wore herself out.

Brooke yawned, and laid down. She was completely bored out of her mind, but she was too lazy to actually get up to do anything. When she heard knocking on her door, she groaned, and slinked towards it so that she could tell the person to go away.

But when she opened the door and saw Elise standing there, she immediately felt lightened up.

"I thought you had work?"

"Naw, my uncle let me have the day off."

"That was nice of him."

"Yeah, so I was wondering if you wanted to head to Irby's?" Charlie asked with a hopeful look in his eyes.

"Sure!" Brooke knew that Billy would take care of Lindsey if she woke up.

(At Irby's):

"Can you order me a beer? I needa go to the bathroom."

"Sure thing." Charlie replied.

"Thanks." Brooke smiled as she walked off.

She opened the door to the bathroom, and was shocked at the scene she saw in front of her!

It was of Ace and Shana doing the deed, and from the looks of it, neither of them had heard her come in. Brooke stood in shock as she stared at them. She felt disgusted, and betrayed! She knew he was a player, but for some reason, didn't think he would physically cheat on her! Especially with his 'change' and all.

"What the fuck is this?!" She shrilled, eyes narrowing and hands balling into fists.

Both Shana and Ace were startled, but frantically pulled apart. They both tried to cover themselves up, but it was no use.

"Babe, it isn't…" Ace didn't know what to say. It was what it was.

"For the last two days you had tried to make me think that you changed! Was it to cover up the fact that you were cheating on me with Shana?!" Brooke growled.

"Keep your voice low." Ace barked.

"Make me Ace! Make-"

Before Brooke could get another word out, Ace had her up against the well with his hand around her throat.

"I said, keep your voice low." Ace whispered threateningly.

Brooke gasped for air, but could only get miniscule amounts. It was now that Shana chose to intervene.

"Come on Ace, let her go. You wouldn't want to be charged with murder now would you?" She persuaded.

"Fine." Ace wasn't happy about this, but he let Brooke go.

Brooke immediately gasped for air, and felt so much better when she had oxygen in her lungs.

"Ace, you and I are over!" She yelled; although it came out as more of a rasp.

Ace's eyes widened, and he grabbed her arm. Shana only sat back and watched.

"Let go of me." Brooke stated with fire in her eyes.

"You aren't going to leave me. Ever!" His grip was tight, and would leave marks.

Brooke tried to get her arm free, but couldn't. She was starting to feel scared. She knew the look in his eyes. She had seen them so many times, and knew them all too well. Brooke knew what was coming next. She then felt a dizzying pain as she was pushed up against the wall once more. Tears brimmed her eyes she felt his fist connect with her stomach.

"Fuck you Ace. We're over, and that's it." She whispered as she brought her knee up and kneed him where it counted most.

The brunette watched as Shana rushed to Ace's side, and rushed out of the bathroom.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen: **

"Hey Brooke." Charlie greeted, but when he saw the state she was in, he was immediately worried. "Brooke, what-"

Brooke never gave him the chance to finish his sentence as she grasped his hand and her beer, and left the place.

"Brooke! What's wrong?!" He was so confused.

"I'll tell you when we get home Charlie!"

The tone she had was enough to make him stop questioning her alone.

_**Ace and Shana: **_

Ace stared at the spot where Brooke had stood and then turned very slowly to look at Shana. She started to back away from him very slowly.

"Ace?" Shana was being very wary of him. He was visibly shaking and his face was turning red. She knew he was pissed off, but she didn't _how _pissed off he was.

"That bitch." Ace spat. "If she thinks she can just break up with me, then she's got another thing coming."

"Ace, calm down." Shana advised. "And get dressed."

Ace glared at Shana, his eyes following her every movement. He watched as she locked the bathroom door, and began picking up their discarded clothing. He wanted to hurt something, or someone. He wanted to break things! Just so he could get his anger out! Oh what a big mistake Brooke made by breaking up with him! He was going to make sure she knew her wrong doing.

"That little whore." Ace muttered as he put on his clothes, and left the bathroom along with Shana.

"Ace…"

"She's gonna pay, and you're gonna help me with it." Ace stated, gripping Shana's wrist.

Shana didn't feel the pain, but she nodded anyways. If Ace had Brooke, she could have Charlie.

_**Brooke and Charlie: **_

"Okay, so are you finally going to tell me what the hell is wrong?" Charlie asked once they were situated on her living room couch.

"I caught Ace cheating on me!" Brooked yelled.

"What?" Charlie was dumbfounded.

"He was cheating on me with Shana." Brooke elaborated.

Brooke was conflicted. She like that she wasn't his anymore, but didn't like the fact that he was cheating with Shana. Brooke just felt like she wasn't good enough if he had the decency to cheat. If she wasn't good enough for him, then who could she be good enough for?

"Oh Bee, it'll be alright. I mean, you were too good for him anyways." Charlie stated while bringing her closer to him.

"Too good? Yeah right. How can I be too good if even he cheats?"

"He's stupid, you know that." Charlie stated bluntly, putting a smile on her face even just for a second. "You're amazing, and any guy would be lucky to have you. I mean, just look at you, you're beautiful."

"You really think that?" Brooke asked.

If it were a breakup with a normal guy, she would be shedding tears. But since it was with Ace, she couldn't really shed any tears. She felt hurt, but that was mostly it.

"Of course I do." Charlie grinned.

"Thank you." Brooke smuggled into his embrace.

"You're welcome." He whispered against her hair.

"You're gonna stay for the night again, right?"

"Brooke, I might as well just live here."


	16. Chapter 16

**Warning: Because a friend had requested it, this chapter has mature content. If you are not comfortable with this, skip to the next chapter. Thank you.  
**

**Chapter Sixteen: **

Ace groaned, and fell back onto his bed. He had just come back from the bar and was horny at the moment. Shana had come home with him, but he didn't know if she would be willing to fuck him again or not.

"Lookin to fuck again Ace?"

Ace looked up and saw Shana. "How the hell did you…"

"Don't worry about that. Now are you looking for a fuck?"

"Yeah. Would you mind helping me out?" To say he was sober was completely wrong. He was so drunk at the moment.

"Eh." Shana replied.

Ace got up and walked over to Shana. "You want me."

"No, not really." Though, Shana wanted Charlie, she needed a good fuck right now since her last fuck got interrupted.

He grinned and pushed her up against the wall.

"You know you want to," he growled lowly in her ear.

Shana looked up at him, and grinned slyly.

"Aww what the fuck."

Shana pulled him for a kiss and he kissed back just as hungrily. Her hands went under his shirt and felt his chest. He had a nice chiseled chest. She pulled the shirt over his head, and gazed hungrily at him. The two lunged at each other, Ace bit and nipped at her neck.

Her hands drifted to his belt buckle and started to unbuckle them. Once they fell to the ground, he stepped out of them and kicked his shoes and socks off. He got her out of her shoes and then started to unbutton her jeans, once he got her out of the jeans, he stepped back and looked at her. He grinned.

He stepped in between her legs and started kissing her neck. She moaned and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her. He nibbled on her earlobe, and then smirked inwardly. He threw her on the bed and grinned down at her.

Shana panted slightly and motioned with her finger for him to come over to her. He did, he got on top of her and slid her shirt off of her. Now they were both only in their undergarments. Shana she felt him move her panties over a little and stick two fingers into her. She jumped a bit and felt him lick her breasts. She groaned in pleasure.

Ace smirked and after a while removed his fingers, making Shana whimper in protest. He chuckled lowly and removed her panties, he threw her legs over his shoulders and ran his tongue over her. Shana shuddered at how good it felt. He nipped gently at her lower lips and then gently, but firmly bit her clit. Shana whimpered in anticipation.

Finally, after a few moments he slid his tongue into her and Shana gasped, and then moaned as he licked inside of her. She arched her back, but Ace held her down, and licked her more quickly. Shana thrashed around and gripped the bed sheets in pleasure.

Once he felt her walls tighten up around his tongue, he pulled it out of her and pulled his tongue back into his mouth. Shana glared up at him, and in a swift move, she was on top and he was lying on his back, she slowly pulled off his boxers and grinned as she caught sight of him.

She licked her lips and then bent down so that her head was level with his dick. Feeling her hot breath so close to his dick made Ace's breathing go off rhythm, he got goosebumps. When he felt her lick, he groaned, she was teasing a bit right now.

Shana grinned, she licked it, kissed it, nuzzled it, making him start to lose all control he had over himself. He gripped the bed sheets so hard that his knuckled turned white. Shana finally took him into her mouth after a few moments and swallowed his entire length, Ace groaned with pleasure.

She bobbed her head up and down, her tongue swirling over and around his dick. Ace thrusted into her mouth and Shana mentally smirked. After a few more moments, Ace came in her mouth.

Shana got back up on her knees and looked down at Ace, she grinned when she saw that he was still hard. She traced his length with her finger, and smirked when she saw Ace close his eyes. She straddled him once more and lowered herself onto his cock.

Ace groaned at the tight warmth that was going down on him. His hands went to her breasts and he started playing with them. He teased her nipples and massaged her tits. Shana moaned and then started moving up and down on him. Ace didn't like that she was deliberately moving at a slow pace.

He rolled them over so that he was on top and she was on the bottom. He pounded into her, she gasped and wrapped her legs around his waist, making him go in deeper. Ace gripped Shana's hips harshly, and Shana hazily thought that he was going to leave bruises on her hips.

"Oh Ace." She moaned.

"Say my name baby, say my name."

"Ace." Shana cried out as she came.

Soon after Ace came and fell on top of her. They both panted and Ace rolled over and pulled her into his arms.

"Damn Shana." He said, panting.

"That was…good."

"Only good?" he asked, cocking up an eyebrow.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen: **

It had been almost a month since Brooke last saw sight of Shana or Ace. Thank goodness, because she would've punched both of them. Hell, even Elise was scarcely seen, but when she was, she was acting a lot nicer. Elise seemed to be guilty about something too, but Brooke didn't care too much to actually find out. Whatever was bugging Elise didn't concern her.

For the moment, however, Brooke was laying in bed like usual. She had gotten over the breakup with the help of Charlie, Billy, and Lindsey. The brunette didn't have a care in the world for Shana and Ace. Charlie was a different story though. For the last month, she had gotten a chance to think about all the incidents where she felt butterflies.

Obviously it wasn't something normal to feel for a _friend_, but was he still really just a friend? He had been with her through thick and thin. He was always by her side, and never once had let her down. Ever since she broke up with Ace, she started having more experiences where she would suddenly feel nervous or wanted to kiss Charlie.

"Hey, I got water." Charlie stated as he set down a cup of water the both of them on the nightstand.

"Thanks Charlie." Brooke glanced at him and made room on the bed. "Where are Billy and Lindsey? I haven't heard from them in a while."

"Oh they left around nine."

"Why?"

"She wanted to visit Billy's house 'cause he said that his mom was making sausages or something."

"Okay." Just as long as she was safe, and with someone she knew, Brooke didn't mind her being out.

"Why didn't you go with them?" Brooke asked, poking his cheek.

"I wanted to hang with you." Charlie shrugged, swatting her hand away from his face.

"Aren't you such a sweetheart?" She joked, but she did appreciate him for thinking of her.

Charlie glanced at her, and did what he did best; tickle her. He watched as she squealed and tried to get away, like she always would, but he would never let her go. However, this time was different. She wasn't going to just let him tickle her to death.

Brooke grabbed his hands, and straddled him while hold his hands above his head.

"You are so not gonna tickle me anymore." She laughed, leaning in closely to his face.

She realized the proximity between their bodies, and though she was used to it, they had never been in this position before. Her chest was pressed up against his, and they were so close. They were already nose-to-nose. So it wouldn't even be shocking if they were to kiss or anything.

"Oh really? You don't like my hands on you?" Charlie had no idea what prompted him to say it, but he hoped that she wouldn't hit him for it.

"I could never mind _your _hands on me." Brooke whispered.

Charlie sucked in a breath of air. Out of everything he was expecting to hear her say, _that _was not one of them. He licked his lips out of nervousness, and didn't even realize that they were slowly inching towards each other. So close, yet, still so far.

"BROOKE! CHARLIE! WE'RE HOME!" Lindsey shouted, scaring both of them.

Brooke quickly jumped off of Charlie, and sat on her bed as Lindsey barged into the room with some food from her dinner with Billy and his family.

"Oh hey Lindsey, is that for us?" Brooke asked quickly as Charlie sat up behind her.

"Yeah! …Why are you all red?" She questioned as Billy came into the room.

"Oh um, Charlie was just making me laugh a lot." Brooke quickly said, not wanting to actually tell the truth.

She heard Charlie snort behind her, and elbowed him slightly.

"Sure, _that's _the reason." Billy said sarcastically.

"Here's your food. Billy tuck me in!" Lindsey hopped out of the room.

"Have fun guys." Billy smirked as he closed the door.

Brooke shook her head, and turned back to look at Charlie. She bit down on her bottom lip as she saw him gazing at her with questioning eyes. She didn't know what to say. It was what it was. They had almost kissed. She had been so close, and for the moment, felt extremely disappointed that she didn't get to feel his lips against hers.

"So…you want a sausage?" She asked awkwardly. This was truly the first time she had felt this awkward around him.

"Are you really not going to talk to me about what almost happened?" Charlie chuckled humorously.

"I-I…I don't know what to say Charlie." Brooke's shoulder slumped, and she looked at him with confused eyes.

"Come on, what's stopping you?" Charlie persisted. "I…I've like you for a long time, you know?"

Brooke looked at Charlie shocked. Somehow, she had never really thought about Charlie liking _her. _She had been so caught up in trying to get over Ace, and sorting through her own feelings that she hadn't really taken the time to consider his.

"I've like you too Charlie." She whispered, playing with the patterns on her blanket.

"So what's stopping you?" He questioned once more.

"I-I don't know." She answered.

The young brunette really didn't know what was stopping her. She was far over Ace, and she had liked Charlie for a while now too. But there was maybe a sense of doubt, a sense of fear to be in another relationship.

"Brooke, I'm not Ace. I'm not going to hurt you like he did." Charlie pulled her close, and rubbed her arm as he placed his chin on top of her head.

Brooke looked up at him, and when she saw the sincerity and truthfulness to his words, she knew that she could trust him with her feelings. So without saying a word to him, she turned so that she sat directly in front of him. She placed her hand on his cheek, and rubbed her thumb against his skin.

She leaned forward, and kissed her best friend.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen: **

Shana and Ace had been spending that entire time since the breakup with each other. Shana had actually taken her things from the Dystra household and moved in with Ace. She knew that she would never survive living in that house with Brooke. Not to mention seeing the disappointed look she would get from Lindsey if Brooke had told her.

She didn't really enjoy living in a dump of a house, but it wasn't like she could live anywhere else. Elise had started giving her the cold shoulder (for reasons unknown to her), and she didn't really have any more friends in Castle Rock. Well, maybe Eyeball, but she wasn't as close to him as she was with Ace.

"So have you come up with a plan yet?" Shana asked, taking the cigarette that was hanging loosely between Ace's lips and slipping it between her own.

"Not yet, but be patient." Ace's gruff voice growled.

Overtime, Shana had noticed a slight change in Ace's demeanor. He had always been calm, yet cruel before, but now, it seemed like he had gotten crueler and colder. It was so noticeable that even Eyeball became wary of Ace, and Eyeball considered Ace to be his best friend.

"Come on Ace-" Shana began, but was cut off by the death glare he burned through her.

"I said be patient." He said, stressing every word to make his point.

"Fine." Shana huffed, crossing her arms.

_**Charlie and Brooke: **_

The kiss lasted for a good ten seconds before Brooke slowly pulled away. A blush stained her cheeks, and her eyes were twinkling with happiness and shyness.

"That was…I wasn't expecting that." Charlie said slowly as a grin formed on his face.

"Yeah well…I've wanted to do that for a while now." Brooke admitted, brushing a strand of her hair out of her face.

"So where does this leave us now?" Charlie asked, lying down.

"Well, I guess we could either just leave it be or we could date?" Brooke had a massive nervousness attack at the word 'date'.

"I'd prefer we date."

From that sentence alone, Brooke felt completely happy. She grinned towards him as she laid down beside him, and draped an arm over his chest.

"Good choice." She joked.

For the rest of the night, she and Charlie about anything and everything. Only now, they could finally kiss each other, and act very couple like. There was no more holding back, no more yearning to do something they couldn't. They were free to do as they liked, and it felt amazing.

_Morning: _

When morning came, the sweet smell of pancakes drifted into Brooke's room. Brooke opened her eyes and smiled. She tried to get up, but a pair of strong arms pulled her back down, making her laugh lightly.

"Charlie." Brooke whined.

Charlie opened his eyes and grinned at her.

"Yes?"

"Let go, I need those pancakes." Brooke said, trying once more to escape his firm grasp.

"Naw, I think I'll keep you here." Charlie replied, laughing.

Brooke huffed, and stared into his eyes for a moment, then she grinned.

"CharChar."

"Hmm?" Then he let out a laugh.

Brooke jumped out of his grasp, and pointed a finger at him. "Haha," she yelled in triumph, "Never tell me where you're ticklish." Then she ran out of the room.

Charlie laughed, got up, threw on a shirt, and followed his girlfriend to the kitchen. Once he got into the kitchen, it was filled with pancakes. He looked at Brooke, and saw that she had already took five of them and drizzled them in syrup. He smiled, pulled out a chair, and sat next to her.

"Who made the pancakes?" Charlie asked as he got his own and doused them with syrup.

"Me and Billy did!" Lindsey stated proudly. "Do you like them?"

"Yeah, they're pretty good." Charlie chuckled.

"Where's Billy?"

"He went to the diner. He said he wanted more than just pancakes." Lindsey answered, trying to cut her own pancakes.

_**Billy: **_

Billy had his head down as he was walking to the local diner, and ended up walking into someone.

"Sorry." He mumbled while looking up.

The person he had walked into was none other than Elise. He quickly got up, and held a hand out to her. She may have had a feud with Brooke, but he had been friends with her once before drifting away. Maybe it was time to reconnect.

"Thanks Billy." She briskly said before trying to walk away.

"Hey Elise, wanna have breakfast with me?" He called out. He had been thinking of her more often for some time now.

He saw the weird look Elise was giving him, but he persisted until she agreed with him. When she did, they both entered the diner, and when he felt a rush of cool air hit him. He sighed in contentment, it was better than the hot air that was currently outside.

He sat down at a booth with Elise, and a waitress came to take their orders.

Once she left, Elise asked what she had been wondering.

"Why did you ask me to eat with you?" She knew it sounded a little rude, but this was the first time he had really interacted with her in a _very _long time.

"I just thought this could be a good time to catch up." Billy shrugged.

"What's there to catch up on Billy?" Elise deadpanned.

"Come on 'Lise, you and I used to be great friends." He said as the waitress came and placed their food in front of them.

"Yeah, _used _to be."

""Why are you being so snotty?" Billy curled his lip in annoyance.

"Snotty?" Elise's jaw dropped slightly. "How dare you call me snotty."

"Well you're treating me like you would treat Brooke." He growled slightly. "I mean come on. I'm not Brooke."

"I'm sorry Billy. I haven't been in the best of moods lately." Elise now felt a little guilty since he was comparing her treatment of him to her treatment of Brooke.

"Just talk with me here. I need more friends."

Elise laughed for the first time in months, and spent the next hour catching up with Billy.


	19. Chapter 19

**Does anyone actually still read this story? If so, feel free to go back and re-read because I have practically re-written this entire story. So most, if not all, have some type of change, big or small, done to them. Also, I am having a bit of writer's block, so if anyone wants to voice their idea, feel free to message me or leave it in a review. If you would like to co-write this, feel free to ask :)  
**

**Chapter Nineteen: **

"So Shana was the one that came in between you and Brooke?"

"Yup."

Billy was at a loss for words. He remembered meeting Shana once when he first met Brooke, and thought she seemed nice. He never really heeded the stories that Brooke would tell him about how mean Shana really was. Even now when he met again, she seemed like a cool person. Now that there was someone else confirming how mean Shana was, he just had to believe.

"That's…bad." He didn't really know what else to say.

"Yeah, so that's why I haven't really done anything to her in so long." Elise admitted. "I do wanna apologize to her though, but I feel like it would be useless."

"I'm sure Brooke will forgive ya…after a while."

"That doesn't really help me Billy." Elise chided.

The duo had been walking aimlessly around for around half an hour now, and both were getting real tired of walking.

"Well, then just wait a while longer." He groaned out as he plopped onto the ground. "It's not like you have to say sorry super fast."

"I guess." Elise sat down next to him.

"So is that why you haven't been hangin around Ace no more?"

"It's been months, might as well move on from that jerk."

_**Shana and Ace: **_

"Ace, can we just take a break from all this thinking?" Shana questioned. Annoyance laced her tone like icing iced the cake.

They had literally spent day and night thinking of ways to break Charlie and Brooke up. Though she wanted Charlie to herself, she needed to do other things than just sit there in a dimly lit room with Ace. She was getting sick of his presence. It was the only one she had in days, and she wanted someone else to hang out with.

"Will it get you to shut up?" Ace groaned.

"Yes." Shana smiled wickedly at him.

"Fine, let's go to Irby's then."

(Ten Minutes Later):

The place still looked the same as ever. It was dimly lit, smelled of smoke, and everyone was chatting amongst themselves. It didn't seem like the place aged at all. It still had that same atmosphere, hell even the same decorations on the wall from when it first opened up.

Ace supposed that the only difference now was that the Cobras didn't hang out there anymore, or at least, not often. It appeared that they were all drifting to different things. Billy and Charlie went their own way while he and Eyeball just stayed together like normal.

He didn't think that they should be calling themselves 'Cobras' anymore with this divide.

Ace glanced around the place as Shana left his side to get them some beer. He felt glad when he saw Eyeball standing near a pool table. Ace hadn't seen Eyeball in weeks, which was unusual even for him.

"Hey Eyeball." Ace called out, striding over to his old buddy with confidence. He smirked when he saw that some of the girls were eyeing him with lustful twinkles in their eyes.

"Hey Ace, where ya been?" Eyeball asked, looking at his friend.

"I've been…busy for a while." Ace answered vaguely. "By the way, have you seen Elise?"

Ace swore that ever since the day of the breakup, he had not seen Elise at all. It was as if she disappeared off the face of the earth. While he was pissed about Elise evading him so well, he was curious about why she was. What had he done to her that caused her to hide from him?

"Nope" he replied, popping the p. He then spotted Shana coming towards Ace and him with beers in her hands.

"Here Ace." She said, thrusting the beer into his chest.

"Who's this? Your latest fuck?" Eyeball eyed up her up and down.

"Not exactly." Ace replied, even though they were fucking because there was no one else to fuck.

"I'm just a friend" Shana said, smiling bitter sweetly at Eyeball. She remembered him. He used to make fun of her looks.

Eyeball squinted at her, "Shana?"

"Yes, Eyeball, it's me, Brooke's older sister." Shana pursed her lips. "Got anything to say about my looks now?"

"Psht, no, but holy shit, you've changed!" Eyeball exclaimed, awed by her transformation.

"Yeah, I wasn't going to stay looking like an innocent little girl forever dickhead." Shana replied, rolling her eyes.

"Humph, well, look who's turned into a major bitch." Eyeball chuckled.

"Still the same lame insults? Eyeball, I'd thought you would get better material by now?" Shana mocked concern. She even placed a hand over her heart.

"Will you two shut the fuck up?" Ace asked, annoyed at their childish argument.

"Humph, well excuse me; I'll be going to the bathroom." Shana turned on her heel, but before she actually left, she made sure to stomp on Eyeball's foot.

"Yow!" Eyeball hollered, earning a few curious glances from bystanders.

Shana smirked in triumph, and hurriedly walked to the bathroom so that Eyeball couldn't catch her. Once she made it there, she just looked in the mirror and made sure that she looked good. The better she looked, the more she could rub it in Eyeball's face that she had indeed changed from the girl next door to the girl that caught everyone's attention.

After she knew she looked her best, Shana opened the door to leave, but gasped when she saw who stood in front of her.

"Hello Shana." His deep voice chuckled out, sending horrified chills down her spine.

_**Charlie and Brooke: **_

The two were enjoying a nice make out session while Lindsey was down for a nap. Everything was nice and peaceful as they kissed each other. That is, until Billy burst through the front door.

"Hey guy- whoa, what's going on here?!" Billy exclaimed while Brooke and Charlie jumped apart.

"Shh! Lindsey is sleeping!" Brooke hissed while holding her finger up against her lips.

"You two were making out!" Billy gasped.

"No shit Billy." Charlie rolled his eyes at the statement.

"Are you guys dating now?"

"Yeah." Brooke said shyly as she brought herself closer to her boyfriend.

Billy smirked. He remembered thinking that they liked each other. Hell, he even remembered once that he and Charlie had been talking about it when Charlie was drunk. Charlie had admitted to liking Brooke, and back then, he thought that Charlie had no chance with Brooke because of Ace.

Looks like Charlie's patience paid off.

"Good for you two then."

_**Ace and Eyeball:**_

"How the hell are you even going to get her to do that? I'm bettin that she hates your guts!" Eyeball laughed as he drank Shana's beer.

"I'll find a way." Ace muttered before looking around. "Where the fuck is Shana?"

"I dunno." Eyeball replied, slurring his words a bit.

Ace scoffed, and got up to find Shana. It had been a couple minutes, and he knew that Shana would never keep him waiting. As he neared the bathrooms, he saw the silhouette of a body on the floor. He shook his head, but when he got closer and saw that it was Shana, he froze.

He stared at her unconscious body, and wondered what the hell had happened.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty: **

"Do you think you're ever going to leave this town?" Charlie quietly asked Brooke.

For the moment, the two were laying in Brooke's backyard. It was beginning to drift into nighttime, and the stars were slowly blooming throughout the darkening sky. The wind had gotten a bit harsher; howling with a dauntingness that bit at everything it could get its wispy grasp on. It weaved through the blades of grass, making them appear like they were dancing to a silent tune only they could hear.

It was almost like a scene from a cheesy romantic movie.

"I don't know," Brooke answered softly. "I hope so, though."

Brooke shifted slightly in Charlie's embrace, and looked him in the eyes. She honestly did hope that one day, _one day_, she could make it out of this hellhole. There were just so many bad memories that haunted her, and she wanted nothing more than to escape it all. She feared that if she didn't…the harsh reality that plagued her here would keep jerking and dragging her into a barren abyss of fury and loneliness. She would always be terrified of that abyss because she knew that if she didn't escape it…she wouldn't have enough strength to climb out…that it would consume her, and create a masquerade that she wouldn't recognize.

"I also hope that you'll come with me if I do," she added, knowing that she would feel more comfortable if he was with her.

"I don't know if I _can _get out of this place, Brooke," he stated, rubbing his hand softly against her side. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to leave."

Brooke's heart sank at the statement, but she only fought against it. What could possibly hold him back from leaving this town? There was _nothing _here for him! He couldn't possibly be thinking that he wasn't good enough for any other place than here…could he? He couldn't think like that! Brooke knew that he had potential to become someone; that he was capable of leaving…

"What's holding you back?" Brooke's tone was laced with shattered dejection.

"I just…I…I would love to know the answer to that, too." He chuckled. Though, there was no humor in it. "I just feel like something's holding me back, Brooke. I…I feel…scared."

Brooke could tell that it was hard for him to admit it. Hell, it would be hard for anyone to admit being scared of something that wasn't spiders. She knew his fear, though. She was scared too. Who wouldn't be if they had to leave something they were so familiar with? But she wanted nothing more than to pack up and leave. Sure, they had never really been out of the town, _out of the state_, but Brooke knew there just had to be _something _better out there. There just had to be…

"Don't be," she chided slightly. "You'll have me…and Lindsey if she wants to come."

The brunette entwined her fingers with his, and cradled them gently. The wind had died down slightly, and was now tenderly caressing them. The moon had finally made its appearance, entrancing everyone who dared stare at its marvelous beauty while the stars had showered even more.

"Where would we even go, Brooke?" Charlie questioned, turning her head so that they made eye contact.

"We could go to my grandparents'," Brooke offered.

"Where do they live?"

"Up north, in Seattle..."

As she stared at Charlie, she could tell that he was seriously considering the offer. She hoped that he would take it. If she was going to be leaving Castle Rock, she wanted her best friend, her boyfriend, to be with her. Of course, she wouldn't pressure him into it.

"That's so far," Charlie said after a few moments. "You think it's really worth it?"

"There's nothing for us here, Charlie! Of course it's worth it." Brooke huffed. "Unless you wanna stay in a place with Ace breathing down our necks forever."

"But we wouldn't have a place to stay!"

"We can stay with my grandparents! They'll let us, I promise," Brooke was practically begging now. "Please Charlie, I don't wanna stay here anymore."

"When would we even leave?" Charlie asked after a moment's silence.

"When we have enough money." Brooke chewed on her bottom lip. "We can take my mom's car."

It was a good plan. At least, to her it was. She didn't know what Charlie thought about it, but she was hoping that he would agree with her. Yes, it would be terrifying to leave the familiarity of Castle Rock, but isn't that what life was about sometimes? To go out and experience new things? Isn't that how you grew as a person?

"I guess if everything is covered…" Charlie smiled a bit.

"Really?!" Brooke grinned as a gleam of excitement set in her eyes.

"Yeah, really." Charlie leaned down and placed a soothing kiss on Brooke's lips. "Now let's go inside, it's getting really cold out here!"

"It's not that cold." Brooke scoffed in amusement before squealing suddenly. "Stop tickling me!"

"Come on." Charlie laughed.

Brooke shook her head, but took Charlie's hand and was hoisted off the ground. She brushed herself off, and fell into step with Charlie as the duo began walking back towards her home. As they ambled slowly, the grin never disappeared from Brooke's features. She definitely felt as if she were walking on the clouds. All they had to figure out now was how to scrounge up enough money and when to leave.

Once they made it back inside, the warmth of the house wrapped around them in a comforting embrace. It was a nice contrast from the brisk chill outside.

"It's late," Brooke stated after looking at the clock. "We should probably go to bed."

When Charlie agreed with her, both silently went to Brooke's room. After the door was shut, the two fell onto Brooke's bed, and resumed the laying position they had been in outside.

"So what are your grandparents like?" Charlie asked.

"They're really nice. They're kinda like how my parents used to be before my dad died." Brooke answered, down casting her eyes at the mention of her deceased father.

"Hey, hey, look at me." He tilted her head slightly with his fingers. "Your dad wouldn't want to see you like this."

"Yeah, but I just miss him. I miss the family we used to be." Brooke sighed. "Everything was great."

"That gun to the face wasn't great."

"For you maybe, but it was hilarious to me." Brooke laughed. "Besides, you know he wouldn't have done anything. He liked you, you know?"

"He was one of the few."

_**Ace, Eyeball and Shana: **_

"Man, what happened to her?" Eyeball slurred, staring at Shana's still unconscious body.

"If I knew, I'd tell you," Ace growled.

He was not a tolerable guy at the moment. He wanted to rip someone's head off! There was no doubt that Shana was more than a pawn in his little game. She had integrated herself into his life since they were young, and because of that, he was protective of her.

After he had found her outside of the bathrooms, he had picked her up and taken her home. Before he left, though, he had dragged Eyeball along with him. His friend had made a big fuss because he had been flirting with a girl and wanted to get laid. As if that was gonna happen, psht.

Now they just sat in the living room, waiting for Shana to wake up.

After about ten minutes, she finally awoke.

"Ow, my head hurts," she moaned out softly.

"What the fuck happened to you anyways?" Ace asked, looking warily at a passed out Eyeball.

"I don't really remember," Shana lied. She knew exactly what happened, but for the sake of keeping her sanity, she was going to pretend that there was nothing wrong.

"I think I slipped or something."

"You're such a klutz," Ace snorted.

"Oh fuck you." Shana growled.

"You already have, sweetheart." Ace grinned.

Shana rolled her eyes, and sat up slightly. She cracked her spine, and let a yawn roll pass her lips. Though she had just woken up, she felt like going back to sleep.

She hoped that Ace wouldn't continue interrogating her.

"Anyways, I'm going to sleep," Ace announced before getting up and leaving the room.

"Night," Shana replied back as her eyes followed his silhouette.

Now that Ace was out of the room, Shana thought back to what happened at the bathrooms. She had been wishing that coming back home would rid her of the problem that she acquired. Shana knew it was stupid to come back to the place where it all first started, but she'd anticipated that maybe he wasn't smart enough to figure that out. Obviously, she had been proven wrong. The only thing she could wonder now was how long she had before he would strike again.

"I'm gonna die," she whispered softly to herself.

_**Charlie and Brooke: **_

"Will you ever tell me what the hell ever happened with you and Shana?" Charlie asked.

"Why do you wanna know so badly?"

"I'm curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"Not just yet."

Brooke sighed, and looked over at Charlie. She could _feel_ his curiosity radiating off of him and wrapping around her body. Hell, even his eyes shone with the gleams of wonderment. Not to mention the look he was giving her was making her will power waver and crumble.

"Alright fine, I'll tell you."

Charlie smiled.

* * *

**Position of co-author is still available :) **


	21. Chapter 21

**Thanks to d2496 and Mrs. Ace Merrill for reviewing the last chapter! You guys gave me motivation to actually write this chapter! :)  
**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty One:**

Brooke gave a small smile at Charlie's enthusiasm to learn about what happened between her and Shana, but she was dreading having to relive those memories. Between her and Shana alone, there weren't that many good things to remember. Everything Shana had done to Brooke were just…

Brooke shuddered at the flashbacks that invited themselves into her conscious.

The young brunette got off the bed, and began to walk towards the door.

"Hey, I thought you were going to tell me the story?" Charlie called out, confused.

"I will," Brooke answered. "but I want to get the photo album to help with it."

Once she saw Charlie nod in understanding, she went to find the album. It wasn't hard to find the album because there were only two in the entire household; one of her parents and Shana and one of all of them, but mostly of Brooke, Lindsey, and Shana. These items were the only things that helped remind her that things used to good, that there _were_ things to be happy to remember.

After she found the thing, and scurried back into her room, Brooke sat back down on her bed. Charlie had sat up too, and had now propped his chin upon her shoulder.

"Alright, well, I don't know where to start." She opened the album, and the first picture was of Shana having her arm wrapped around a four year old Brooke.

"You look tense in the picture," Charlie noted softly.

"Yeah, I don't really remember what she did, but my dad told me that I wouldn't sleep alone for weeks." Brooke stated with her fingers gripping tighter and tighter onto the item with every passing second.

The second picture showed the two girls hugging. Shana had a brilliant smile on her face while Brooke look almost…worried. Brooke had been five at the time.

"My parents asked me about the bruises that were on my arms, but I lied to them and said that I just got hit really hard."

"What actually happened?" Charlie rubbed his thumb softly on Brooke's other shoulder.

"Shana, she…well she was just angry about something, and I guess I annoyed her with something. She grabbed me real hard and just screamed in my face." Brooke sighed. "In almost every picture, I had a bruise somewhere on my body. Of course, it usually because of Shana, she was really cruel."

Brooke gave Charlie the album to flip through while she continued telling the story.

"When I was five, I had this idea that something was wrong with Shana. She would sometimes just mutter things to herself, and she was almost paranoid all the time. She hid it real well, though. She fooled my parents, but when we were alone, she would show me just how brutal she could really be.

She would hurt me almost every day. She'd slap me around, push me, and say things to me, and…just everything. Shana made sure to try and not leave bruises though. She wanted to be smart about that. She always told me that I wasn't good for anything, and tried to put this idea that our parents didn't love me. Hell, she even tried to tell me once that I wasn't even blood related. I told my mom that and she was really mad at Shana.

After that, things just escalated. I was terrified of Shana. I really was." Brooke felt tears encompassing in her eyes, and tried her hardest to not cry.

"How the hell didn't your parents notice?" Charlie asked, shocked.

"Shana and I acted normally when they were around, and I was terrified of telling them anything because Shana said things would get worse for me." Brooke wiped away a stray tear that had escaped from its prison.

"But anyways, after she turned eight, things started to kind of change. She'd start having these anger issues, and would always scream at Mom and Dad. Shana would also lock herself in her room, and just color. She said that it helped with everything. We didn't know what everything meant because she wouldn't tell us, but when my dad went to look at the pictures when she went to school, well, let's just say they made them seriously concerned for her mental health.

I didn't really know what the hell was going on. All I knew was that I was seriously terrified to be left alone with her. I would _not _be alone with her. If my parents were home, I would always be with them, but if they weren't, I'd hide until they got home. Then, she met Ace, and everything seemed good again. It was like he made everything all sunshine and rainbows for her.

My parents were relieved, but then they found out that Ace was a _horrible_ influence on her. He apparently convinced her to skip school and shit like that. I didn't really care, I was finally having a good time being a kid and not having to worry about Shana trying to hurt me.

After I turned nine or ten, I think, Shana started to become…delusional." Brooke struggled a little to find a kind way to put it.

"What do you mean delusional?" Charlie asked, looking up from the photo album.

"She would sometimes say that she saw someone or something when there wasn't anything there. It was weird. Sometimes it would seem like she was talking to someone, but there was no one there, but she would insist that there was someone there. My parents knew that there was something wrong with her, but they didn't know what to do.

They only hoped that it would go away, and just try to help her as best they could. I just thought that she was losing her mind. At night, I would sometimes hear her screaming because of a nightmare, and my parents would rush to help her. I did feel worried about her, but I stopped worrying when she went one step too far.

We were home alone for a bit – Mom and Dad went to buy some food – and Shana went into one of her episodes. She started shouting at me, and I was really scared. I wanted to hide, to just lock myself away, but my legs barely moved. I ended running into the kitchen, and Shana, she…she…she grabbed a knife." Brooke bit down hard on her lower lip as she thought of the memory.

"_Shana! No!" Brooke shouted. _

She didn't remember how many times she had to yell it out.

"_Please stop, Shana!" Brooke sobbed, looking into her sister's eyes._

_"Never," Shana sneered.  
_

"What happened after that?" Charlie was so intrigued, but he felt horrible that his girlfriend had to endure all that.

"She cut me, a lot, but they didn't go _too_ deep. By the time she was done, I was bleeding a lot. I remember looking into her eyes, and noticing one thing, her eyes were normal." Brooke looked towards Charlie and noticed him looking confused at what she had just said.

"What I mean by that is that when she went crazy, she always had these wide, wild eyes. When she's normal, well, obviously she's normal. When I looked at her eyes, she was normal. She wasn't going crazy anymore. Shana did that…with a clear conscience!

After our parents got home, they were furious. Shana and Dad got into this shouting fight while Mom was hugging me and trying to make the bleeding stop. I remember her crying so much. She was telling me how much she loved me, and that everything was going to be okay. I wanted to believe her, but I _couldn't_. What Shana did was just horrifying."

Brooke held back a sob, and leaned against Charlie as he pulled her in for a hug. Brooke didn't mind his silence as she told her story, she kind of preferred it.

"I hated her!" she sobbed. "I hated her so _fucking_ much for doing that to me! I wouldn't talk to her or be near her. I just wanted to cry every time she looked at me with this look of hate. It was as if she thought I was a bug or something."

"Brooke-" Charlie tried to say.

"But after that, she just made things worse for me. She ruined all my projects…she basically tried to ruin everything I had. When our parents tried to do something, she'd just act even crueler.

I tried to do everything to avoid her. Then, everything seemed to change after our parents' friends came back to town. Besides Ace, she started hanging around their kid, David. Things seemed okay, but after this one night, Shana seemed to be scared of him.

I had no idea why she was scared of him. He was a nice guy, and we got along pretty good. He liked me and I like him, but Shana would just never hang around him after that night. I tried asking her once, and she…she pushed me up against the wall and told me to quit bugging her. I never asked her again after that.

I'm guessing David was the reason she ran off to our uncle's place, though." Brooke sighed. Her tears finally stopped falling. Now her eyes were just red.

"Did she ever hurt Lindsey?" Charlie asked, holding his girlfriend close to him.

"No, she didn't. She loved Lindsey, to the point of obsession." Brooke buried her face against the crook of Charlie's neck.

"So why does she seem normal now?"

"I don't even know. Maybe it's because she's around Ace. She was always comforted by him, but I really don't know. She's still as vindictive as she was back then, though." Brooke sighed.

"Are you sure about that? She seems a lot nicer now?" Charlie questioned, slightly doubting that Shana had stayed like that up until now.

"Don't trust her Charlie, please?" Brooke looked at him with begging eyes. She knew no good would _ever _come out of trusting Shana.

"Okay," Charlie answered, giving her a reassuring squeeze on the hand. "Did she ever know that she had problems?"

"I have no idea." Brooke frowned. "I don't think so. I mean, our parents tried to tell her, do something with her, but she never believed them. She tried hiding it, so maybe she had an _idea_."

"Are you still scared of her?"

Brooke kept silent for a moment. She _loathed_ having to admit it, she really did. It had been a few years since she had faced Shana's wrathful abuse, and Brooke had always thought she got over it. That wasn't the case, however. Before Shana came back, thoughts about her abuse slipped into her mind from time to time. It had been nothing Brooke couldn't handle. Now that Shana _was_ back, the memories flowed back much easier.

They never really came back in the daytime, though. Mainly, the recollections appeared when she was asleep; appearing as nightmares as slumber claimed her. She tried her hardest to not let the fear get to her.

Silent as a statue, Brooke said nothing as she nodded her head, hating herself even more for doing so.

"It's okay, Brooke." Charlie pulled her into another hug. "As long as I'm here, I'm not gonna let her hurt you."

The statement caused a smile to leap onto Brooke's features. She knew he wasn't the toughest guy around, but she knew that he would do anything to keep her safe. Hell, he even stood up to Ace once a long time ago. Of course, he had gotten on Ace's bad side after that, and had been given the cold shoulder. Not to mention he wasn't allowed to see Brooke until he apologized.

_"You know what you gotta say if you wanna get back into the Cobras." Ace laughed at the look on Charlie's face, never realizing it wasn't the Cobras Charlie cared about. _

It had been tough for him to do so, but he did it anyways.

_"Fine, I'm sorry, Ace," Charlie stated tensely._

While Brooke lingered on the memory for a few more seconds, Charlie asked:

"So what ever happened to David?"

"Oh he died about a year ago, I think," Brooke answered.


	22. Chapter 22

**Woohoo! An update! And it's longer than normal to compensate for not updating for two months!  
**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Two:**

Many weeks had passed since Brooke had told Charlie about her awful past with Shana, and now there were no more talks about it. Charlie hadn't brought it up once, and Brooke assumed it was either because his curiosity was satisfied or he didn't want to bring back all the memories. Whatever the case may be, the past weeks had been sheer bliss.

It seemed as if Shana and Ace had disappeared off the face of the earth.

At first Brooke had been worried – she never told anyone about it, though – and had been on edge. Luckily for her, she had masked the fears well enough so that Charlie and others wouldn't become suspicious and carried on with how she usually was. Even more fortunate, with each day that passed, Brooke felt the worry dull more and more. She was becoming sure that she was just being paranoid and told herself things were fine.

With a shake of her head, Brooke sighed in content. The seasons were changing, and it was slowly creeping onto autumn, her favorite time of year. She couldn't wait to see all the leaves change colors and slowly begin to fall to the ground! The leaves were always her favorite part when it came to the season. The sights were just amazing and she would always be mesmerized by it.

It was just so peaceful.

"Hey, I thought I'd find you back here," Charlie's voice drifted in the air.

"Hiya Charlie," Brooke smiled from her place on the grass.

"What are you doing?" Charlie asked while going over to sit next to her.

"Watching the sunset," Brooke replied with a small smile.

While sunsets were beautiful all on their own, it was her father who had shown her that when she was young. Brooke had never cared for nature when she was a child, but her dad had loved it, and therefore, showed her the beauty it held. It was then that she grew an appreciation for it.

It was also one of things Ace had made fun of her for. He had thought Brooke had always been a bit childish to be amazed by sunsets, but would humor her and watch with her.

"It's really nice isn't it? I wonder if it looks this nice anywhere else." Charlie commented.

Brooke looked over at Charlie, and wondered if he was hinting at something. They may have agreed that they would leave when they had enough money, but they hadn't spoken anymore about it since then. Brooke had begun to wonder if he was backing out…

"I'm sure it looks as nice." Brooke nodded. "It's always nice."

A silence drifted over them, but neither minded. Not every second between them needed words, and it was something they both liked. Just basking in the presence of the other was enough, no need to make useless small talk.

"Wanna head inside? It's almost dinner time."

"Sure." Charlie offered a hand to Brooke, and she took it with a smile.

Once both of them were on their feet, Brooke and Charlie strolled towards the backdoor. When they made it inside, they were happy to find out that they didn't need to worry about cooking dinner. Billy had apparently been kind enough to bring back some leftovers from his own family dinner.

"Charlie, will you tuck me in?" Lindsey asked once dinner was over.

"Sure thing, Linds," Charlie answered, following the seven year old towards her room.

Brooke smiled briefly at them before picking up the plates and putting them in the sink to wash. It seemed to be becoming a regular routine in the home nowadays. The brunette was noticing that they truly did act like a little family…

A sad smile crossed her lips as she wished that her mother would be a part of it.

Looking at the leftover food, she decided to pile some on a plate and give them to Alana. Brooke didn't know if she would eat it or not, but she at least wanted to let her mother know that she was still in her thoughts.

* * *

Once Charlie had finished helping Lindsey brush her teeth and such, he finally began to tuck the tired seven year old into bed. He picked up a stuffed animal – one that _he _had gotten for her – and placed it near her pillow.

A wave of warmth washed over him when he saw her hug it tightly against herself.

"Are you going to marry Brooke one day?" she asked innocently.

Charlie's eyes went wide.

Out of all the questions she could've asked, she had to ask the one he hadn't even thought about. But even so, would he want to marry Brooke one day? He was uncertain. Being boyfriend/girlfriend was one thing, but marriage was another. It was a whole other level! That didn't stop him from briefly imagining it for a few seconds, though.

"Only if she says yes," Charlie answered.

"I hope she says yes then." Lindsey grinned. She had always been attached to Charlie. "I like you way better than Ace."

"Oh yeah?" Charlie chuckled.

"Yeah! He always made Brooke sad and always scared me."

"Well, as long as I'm around, he won't ever make Brooke sad again _or _scare you." Charlie declared, ruffling her light brown hair.

"Me and Billy saw him today."

At this, Charlie went rigid. Ace had been out of their lives for so long that it was odd to hear that he had resurfaced. What could it mean? Was he finally over Brooke? Or did they have something to worry about? There were many questions and thoughts alike that ran through his mind – Ace wanting revenge was the main subject – but he gulped down all of it.

"Did he want anything?" Charlie asked.

"Nope!" Lindsey replied.

Relief flooded through Charlie's veins, bringing him to a much more positive state of mind. He soon brushed off the idea of Ace wanting _anything_ from them, and chalked it up to nothing.

He never knew that Lindsey hadn't heard what had actually been said when Billy had gotten cornered by Ace.

"We'll be fine then. Now, go to sleep Linds."

"Okay, Charlie." Before Lindsey actually snuggled into her bed, she reached up for a hug, momentarily surprising Charlie. "I love you Charlie, you're the best big brother ever."

At first, Charlie was taken aback. He hadn't expected her to say anything like that, but he couldn't help but let pride swell within him. The blonde had _truly _taken up the role of big brother in Lindsey's life without even noticing.

"I love you too, Lindsey," he whispered as he hugged her back.

Rarely did he ever call her by her full name.

* * *

Brooke opened the door to her mother's room slowly, and peeked inside. Almost immediately, a tsunami of gloom crashed through her veins, embedding itself within her muscles.

This room used to be so _bright _and _full of life_. Now it was bathed in darkness and was as barren as a forest that lay dead. But along with the desolation that seemed to have etched its way into the walls, her father's smell was also present – even after years of being gone.

The realization brought a few tears to her eyes, but she blinked them away.

She gazed around some more and found her mother to be where she always was, next to the window.

"Mom?" Brooke called out, venturing closer to the woman.

Alana Dystra did not acknowledge her daughter.

"I brought you some food," Brooke stated as she examined her mother for the first time in years.

Her mother had truly lost the fire that had once been an inferno of love and joy. Not only that, she had lost a considerate amount of weight. She almost appeared to be a skeleton that draped a sheet of skin over itself. She was so…_hollow_, nothing like the mom she had grown up with. Her eyes were also sunken deeply into her skull and were so _empty_, but probably not as empty as her heart.

When Lionel died, he took her mother with him.

"You should eat," Brooke advised, pushing the plate near her mother.

The brunette sighed in frustration and turned to leave, but the eerie feeling of her mother's bony fingers wrapped weakly around her wrist stopped her. These did not feel like her hands. How could they? These fingers weren't riddled with soft caresses, nor were they as soft. Brooke felt aches all over.

"I'm sorry I've failed you girls as a mother," Alana stated weakly. Brooke felt her heart break at how feeble and frail she sounded.

"Mom-"

"You're as golden hearted as your father," she interrupted, "I hope you know that."

Brooke said nothing.

"Thank you – both you and Charlie – for giving Lindsey a push in the right direction. I love both you girls and I always will. I'm sorry for neglecting you both."

Brooke, not knowing what to say, quickly hugged her mother before leaving the room in a haste.

Out of everything that could've happened, she hadn't expected her mother to say anything. She hadn't ever said anything for the last couple years and Brooke almost expected that she wouldn't speak ever again.

With thoughts jumbling within her skull, Brooke scampered towards her room. She had high hopes that tonight would give her a good night's sleep so that these thoughts would go away.

Go figure that she had wanted her mom to say something – _anything _– to her, and now she was doing a complete 180 and was trying to push the words into the deepest crevice of her psyche.

"You okay, Brooke?"

"Yeah," Brooke replied absentmindedly. "I'm fine, just spacing out."

She debated whether to lay out her feelings about what had happened in her mom's room, but decided not to. He had already helped her enough through so much, so she didn't want to burden him with this. She'd keep this as her own little secret until she wanted to reveal it one day.

"Is Linds asleep?"

"Yeah, she knocked out pretty easily," Charlie answered with a warm twinkle in his eyes. He decided to not tell Brooke about Lindsey's sighting of Ace. Why worry her over nothing?

"That's good," Brooke yawned, grabbing her sleeping clothes.

She stepped into the bathroom and began to change out of her clothes. It felt good to know that slumber was so close, and for a few hours, didn't have to care about reality. No worries, fears, or thoughts could plague her and the only thing that could haunt her were the dreams she could scarcely remember in the mornings.

Once she was finished in the bathroom, Brooke crawled into bed with Charlie and curled up against his body.

"I managed to get my uncle to give me a raise," Charlie murmured while lightly tracing his girlfriend's skin, making her shiver.

"Really?" Brooke grinned, looking up at him with curious eyes.

"Yeah, I told him about our little plan and that's why he gave me the raise."

"At least it's more money towards this." Brooke felt elated.

They hadn't exactly talked about exactly how much they would need, but Brooke didn't care at the moment. Charlie had gotten a raise! She hoped that the money he was making, along with some of her own savings, would be enough by the end of next month maybe. If not, possibly she could make a phone call…

"I can't wait until we have enough."

"I can't wait either."

Brooke tilted her head up and stole a kiss from her boyfriend…then another…and another…

_They never suspected their bliss would come to an abrupt end…_

* * *

By the time one of them woke up, the sun was already high up in the sky and warmed most places in Castle Rock. Of course, soon enough it wouldn't be warm anymore – as was expected when autumn's presence was creeping closer.

For Charlie, the sun's warmth didn't matter. Enough of it radiated off of each others' skin – which was the case last night – and created a feel akin to a sauna.

He rubbed her back soothingly as she slept and eyed the soft curves of her body. Sure, the blonde had seen glimpses of Brooke's body, but last night had been different. It had been unexpected, but he had finally seen all of Brooke. After so long of wishing, his wish finally came true! And he couldn't be happier. It seemed everything was falling into place.

_I always win._

That was what Ace had always said wasn't it? Well not this time. This time, he, Charlie Hogan, was the winner. He won Brooke's heart.

"Mmm, morning Charlie." Brooke's sleepy voice brought him back to a surreal reality.

"Morning, Brooke," Charlie replied, noticing the shine in her forest green eyes.

"What time is it?"

"About 12," he answered after looking at the clock across the room.

Charlie's eyes followed Brooke's fingers as she lightly traced the grooves of his muscles. He prided in himself for gaining some muscle from his job and getting rid of the lanky form everyone had made fun of before. No one really made fun of him anymore, but there was always a snide comment here and there. It had always been from either Eyeball or Ace, or _someone_.

"We should get up." He didn't want to, but he did have work later.

"Why?" Brooke whined playfully. "Laying here is great, just like last night."

Charlie blushed at the purr in her voice. A few months ago, he would've hated to admit that no girl had ever gone after him or found him as attractive as the other guys. Hell, he'd probably be the one to get used so that the chick could get closer to another Cobra. Admitting that had always been terrible. He didn't even have to admit it; the guys just knew and usually took jabs at him for being the lamest one in their gang. Charlie had hated it, but now, he didn't care for it so much. A ton of girls didn't mean anything if nothing came out of it.

"Come on, let's eat." Brooke smiled, kissing him quickly.

Charlie nodded, but made no move to get out of the bed. He entranced by Brooke's nude form.

"See something you like?" Brooke teased.

"Definitely," Charlie replied, throwing her a grin when he noticed the redness that stained the apples of her cheeks.

About ten minutes later, both were dressed and were heading downstairs. Their stomachs were growling and they couldn't wait to fill it. They were talking about what they would make, but once they made it into the kitchen they were surprised at the sight of so much food on the table.

"You guys slept longer than usual," Billy commented, walking past them with Lindsey in tow.

"You guys cooked?" Brooke asked.

"Naw, your mom did."

Charlie's eyebrows rose slightly in surprise and he turned to Brooke, whose face wore a complete expression of shock. He could understand why she felt that way, given the fact Alana had hid away for so long.

"Momma looked really tired," Lindsey informed with a pout.

"I'm sure she's real tired," Brooke replied, ruffling her little sister's hair while grabbing food.

Charlie said nothing as he mirrored her actions and grabbed some food for himself. A smile briefly slid onto his face as he remembered how good Alana's cooking had been, and hoped that it was just as good now. By the smell of it, it was.

An hour later, Charlie had set off to the grocery store to work. The walk was quiet as Brooke had opted to stay home and play some games with Lindsey, a little sister-sister bonding. He was fine with it, but he wished he had someone to talk to right now. It was a little too quiet for his liking. However, it almost felt as if he were being watched, but he shrugged it off. It was nothing.

Once he made it to the store, he was glad for the ruined silence.

"Hey Uncle Mark," he greeted with a short wave.

"Hey Charlie," the aging man greeted back. "There are some boxes that need to be thrown away, so start there."

Charlie nodded and grabbed the few empty boxes that were in the store and headed for the back alley. He hoped he wouldn't do anything _too_ tedious today, hopefully it was a slow day.

Charlie opened the door to the alley, and froze when he saw who stood in front of him.

"It's been a while, Charlie." Ace grinned.


End file.
